Makki on Ahlberg, ‘Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête (Drawing Papers 145)’ and Gilman, ‘Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête’ | AMCA | Association for Modern + Contemporary Art of the Arab World, Iran + Turkey

Makki on Ahlberg, ‘Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête (Drawing Papers 145)’ and Gilman, ‘Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête’

Markus Ritter, Staci G. Scheiwiller, eds. The Indigenous Lens? Early Photography in the Near and Middle East. Studies in Theory and History of Photography Series. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017. Illustrations. 372 pp. $80.99 (pdf), ISBN 978-3-11-059087-6; $80.99 (paper), ISBN 978-3-11-049135-7.

Author: Claire Gilman, curator
Reviewer: May Makki

Joanna Ahlberg, ed. Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête (Drawing Papers 145). New York: Drawing Center, 2021. 183 pp. $30.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-942324-33-4.Claire Gilman, curator. Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête. New York: Drawing Center, June 11–September 19, 2021. .


Reviewed by May Makki (Bard College)
Published on H-AMCA (January, 2022)
Commissioned by Jessica Gerschultz (University of Kansas)

Printable version 

Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête brings together an impressive selection of over forty years of the late artist’s work. Organized in loose chronological order, the exhibition at The Drawing Center comprises a large room of early- and mid-career works, a back room of later works, and two biographical films downstairs (fig. 1; https://tinyurl.com/3suzynba). The more subtle organizational thread, however, is the use of juxtaposition and separation that deftly draws out Huguette Caland’s distinct approach to line across paintings, works on paper, caftans, mannequins, and ceramics.

Figure 1, Installation view: Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête,The Drawing Center, New York. June 11–September 19, 2021. Photo: Daniel Terna.

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