.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Sylvie Buisson will include this painting in the forthcoming supplement to her Foujita catalogue raisonné under no. 3.30.114.H.
Born and educated in Japan, Foujita moved to Paris in 1913, living the bohemian lifestyle in Montparnasse where he made the acquaintance of Picasso, van Dongen and Modigliani amongst others. Foujita went on to create his own style, drawing on both his Oriental heritage and his European surroundings.
Until the success of his 1917 exhibition at the Chéron Gallery, and his submission to the Salon d'Automne in 1919, Foujita mostly produced works on paper, unable to afford the steep expense of oil and canvas. After that date, working with this new medium, Foujita perfected his oil technique in the early 1920s, devoting much time to the preparation of the smooth, milky surface and upon which he applied subtle, translucent layers of colour. Amongst the many representations of animals which Foujita chose to depict in his work, the cat was the one to which he most often returned. Painted in 1930, Les deux chats relates to Foujita's celebrated illustrated Book of Cats, executed that same year.
Born and educated in Japan, Foujita moved to Paris in 1913, living the bohemian lifestyle in Montparnasse where he made the acquaintance of Picasso, van Dongen and Modigliani amongst others. Foujita went on to create his own style, drawing on both his Oriental heritage and his European surroundings.
Until the success of his 1917 exhibition at the Chéron Gallery, and his submission to the Salon d'Automne in 1919, Foujita mostly produced works on paper, unable to afford the steep expense of oil and canvas. After that date, working with this new medium, Foujita perfected his oil technique in the early 1920s, devoting much time to the preparation of the smooth, milky surface and upon which he applied subtle, translucent layers of colour. Amongst the many representations of animals which Foujita chose to depict in his work, the cat was the one to which he most often returned. Painted in 1930, Les deux chats relates to Foujita's celebrated illustrated Book of Cats, executed that same year.