Huguette Caland

The exhibition by the Lebanese Huguette Caland (1931) at Tate St Ives is her first solo presentation in the UK, featuring pieces from the late 1960s to the early ’80s, many of which exhibited in the country for the first time. The selection of works highlights the significance of the artistic career of Caland who played a key role in the development of international modern art and collaborated with writers, artists and designers, as for example the fashion designer Pierre Cardin.

Her signature paintings portray exuberant and erotically-charged female bodies, often represented as landscapes or amorphous forms. Between the pieces on view, some of her bright and large paintings from the “Bribes de corps (Body Parts)” series from the 1970s, a selection of Caland’s drawings portraying friends and lovers whose figures transform into natural shapes, and many caftans resulting from her collaboration with Pierre Cardin.