Cecile's paintings are unconventional in more than one way. The extreme brilliancy of her colors, the often mural-size format, her particular technique as well as the broad variety of her themes all make for a unique experience of watercolor. It is as if watercolor went beyond its natural boundaries.
Art collectors are enticed by Cecile Hubene’s unconventional way to use the medium of watercolor. When her brush, filled with pigments is put to water, a mosaic of vivid and buoyant colors spring to live. She skillfully uses the white of the paper to separate tonalities in order to render their greatest luminosity and expression.
The original technique is applied to an almost inextinguishable subject matter, inspired as much by her travels as through her inner journey. Her way of painting may seem natural and almost instinctual but her career as an artist came rather unexpectedly. Her college and university education destined her to the deep-rooted family tradition of the practice of law, with an inclination toward European and environmental law. After a short year of experience in the international legal arena, she decides to listen to her dream and becomes a professional artist.
Cecile has been painting and drawing spontaneously since early childhood. In 1981, she meets the artist Wolmans, a painter renown for his rendition of the French Coast of Brittany. Wolmans advises the young lawyer to forgo artistic education. Rather, he says she should dedicate her life to refining the craft of watercolor. He recommends that she exhibit her work to discover her public. And so she does.
Embracing her brushes and following her dream, Cecile then travels the world, trekking from the high regions of Nepal, Burma, Tibet and China to the tropical lands of Bali, Java, Thailand or India, from the deserts of Morocco and Tunisia to Jordan and across the North American Continent. Inspired by her travels, her large watercolor frescos go beyond depicting happy souvenirs. Her travels have wounded her and have allowed her to find her roots; they have exacerbated her sensitivity as an artist. She reminds us that the true journey always begins deep within ourselves and does so in her very distinctive style.
Her move to the United States in the late nineties marks a turn in her work. The focus is now on an escape from the real world, or rather, on the secret world, which lies hidden beneath reality. With a poet’s eye she reinvents old legends or deciphers ageless myths, while pointing at the abysses of our dream world, which lies hidden beneath reality. With a poet’s eye she reinvents old legends or deciphers ageless myths, while pointing at the abysses of our dream world. Each behind the lightness, softness and humor of the expression, a deeper, more mysterious side is revealed. But whatever the subject matter, Cecile’s art never looses inherent naïve and esthetic qualities.
Since 1985, Cecile has exhibited her watercolors in numerous galleries internationally. She has the distinction of repetitively participating at the Paris “Salon d’ Automne” and at the “European Institute for Watercolors” annual European tour. Cecile’s work has been featured at “Lineart”, Europe’s well-known international art fair. Upon leaving the entanglement of the legal and political world, Cecile has dedicated herself, using her creative talents to help protect the plant’s wildlife and natural habitats. She has hosted several fund-raising events to support the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) with special attention to the preservation of the tropical rain forests.
Translated and adapted from:
“A journey into the universe of Cecile Hubene” by Caroline Tricot (PH D. thesis, University of Liege, Belgium, 2004)
- “The World according to Watercolor” by J. Burny
- “Markets of the World” by S. Rey, 1999
