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Lot Essay
PUBLISHED:
Sylvie and Dominique Buisson, La vie et l'oeuvre de Léonard-Tsuguharu Foujita (Paris: ACR Edition Internationale, Courbevoie, 1987), illustrated in color, p. 214; no. 56.11, p. 505. Exposition Léonard Foujita, Reonaru Fujita ten/Léonard Foujita: Seitan 100-nen kinen (Leonard Foujita Exhibition: Commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth), exh. cat. (Tokyo: Art Life Ltd., 1986), pl. 95.
The following memory of posing for Foujita was written 18 January, 2001 by Marc Delègue, the subject of the drawing. Mr. Delègue's grandfather, Juillot de La Morandière, first met Foujita in Tokyo in 1934 when he was the Director of the Franco-Japanese Association. He asked Foujita for this drawing to commemorate his grandson's first communion:
Les jours où Foujita venait pour me dessiner étaient ceux où je devenais, moi petit garçon de dix ans, le plus important personnage de la maisonnée. On m'avait fait laver et habiller soigneusement, mais l'inspection finale revenait à ma mère qui me donnait le dernier coup de peigne.
Il venait déjeuner à la maison et sitôt le dessert avalé, moi le précédant, nous allions tous vers ma chambre qui'il avait choisie comme lieu de pose.
Foujita enlevait ses chaussures et s'installait sur la moquette en tailleur, pendant que toute la famille, un peu en retrait, observait respectueusement le mystère qui allait s'accomplir....
Pour moi il s'agissait d'un vrai supplice, car je n'ai jamais pu
rester assis bien longtemps sans bouger! Je finissais par me tortiller sur la chaise. Ma mère se chargeait de la police, me
répétant sans cesse de me tenir "tranquille!"
Mais lui restait silencieux, se contentant de me fixer longuement derrière ses petites lunettes rondes. Puis il s'absorbait longuement sur la feuille de papier de riz, ne relevant plus dès lors le tête qu pour quelques coups d'oeil perçants. Je me souviens aussi très bien aussi de l'énorme frange qui lui mangeait tout front, encore très noire...
Puis, quand la séance était finie, il se relevait avec une
souplesse de jeune homme (il était âgé de soixante dix ans à l'époque) et après m'avoir cérémonieusement serré la main, il partait jusqu'à la prochaine fois, emportant sous le bras un carton à dessin presque plus grand que lui.
Cela fera bientôt quarante cinq ans que je possède ce tableau, et qui'il m'a suivi comme un double dans mes nombreux déménagements...
The days when Foujita would come to draw my portrait were the days when I, a little boy of ten, became the most important person in the household. I had my hair washed, I was carefully dressed, and the final inspection came from my mother with a last comb of the hair.
He used to come and have dinner with us at home. As soon as we finished eating dessert, he would follow me and we would all go into my room which he chose as the place where he wanted to draw my portrait.
Foujita would take off his shoes and sit down on the carpet crossing his legs, as my entire family, a little behind, watched respectfully the mystery that was going to unfold...
For me, it was real torture because I had never been able to sit still for long! In the end, I would fidget in the chair. My mother acted like the police, endlessly repeating "sit still!"
But the artist kept silent, content to gaze intently on me from behind his little round glasses. Then he would focus on his sheet of rice paper, only lifting his head for several intense glances. I also remember clearly his heavy bangs all across his forehead, still very black...
Then, when the session was over, he would stand up as supple as a young man (he was then 70 years old), and after shaking my hand quite formally, he would leave until the next session, taking with him under his arm a folder that was almost bigger than he.
I have had this drawing for nearly forty-five years now and it has followed me like a double through numerous moves....
Sylvie and Dominique Buisson, La vie et l'oeuvre de Léonard-Tsuguharu Foujita (Paris: ACR Edition Internationale, Courbevoie, 1987), illustrated in color, p. 214; no. 56.11, p. 505. Exposition Léonard Foujita, Reonaru Fujita ten/Léonard Foujita: Seitan 100-nen kinen (Leonard Foujita Exhibition: Commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth), exh. cat. (Tokyo: Art Life Ltd., 1986), pl. 95.
The following memory of posing for Foujita was written 18 January, 2001 by Marc Delègue, the subject of the drawing. Mr. Delègue's grandfather, Juillot de La Morandière, first met Foujita in Tokyo in 1934 when he was the Director of the Franco-Japanese Association. He asked Foujita for this drawing to commemorate his grandson's first communion:
Les jours où Foujita venait pour me dessiner étaient ceux où je devenais, moi petit garçon de dix ans, le plus important personnage de la maisonnée. On m'avait fait laver et habiller soigneusement, mais l'inspection finale revenait à ma mère qui me donnait le dernier coup de peigne.
Il venait déjeuner à la maison et sitôt le dessert avalé, moi le précédant, nous allions tous vers ma chambre qui'il avait choisie comme lieu de pose.
Foujita enlevait ses chaussures et s'installait sur la moquette en tailleur, pendant que toute la famille, un peu en retrait, observait respectueusement le mystère qui allait s'accomplir....
Pour moi il s'agissait d'un vrai supplice, car je n'ai jamais pu
rester assis bien longtemps sans bouger! Je finissais par me tortiller sur la chaise. Ma mère se chargeait de la police, me
répétant sans cesse de me tenir "tranquille!"
Mais lui restait silencieux, se contentant de me fixer longuement derrière ses petites lunettes rondes. Puis il s'absorbait longuement sur la feuille de papier de riz, ne relevant plus dès lors le tête qu pour quelques coups d'oeil perçants. Je me souviens aussi très bien aussi de l'énorme frange qui lui mangeait tout front, encore très noire...
Puis, quand la séance était finie, il se relevait avec une
souplesse de jeune homme (il était âgé de soixante dix ans à l'époque) et après m'avoir cérémonieusement serré la main, il partait jusqu'à la prochaine fois, emportant sous le bras un carton à dessin presque plus grand que lui.
Cela fera bientôt quarante cinq ans que je possède ce tableau, et qui'il m'a suivi comme un double dans mes nombreux déménagements...
The days when Foujita would come to draw my portrait were the days when I, a little boy of ten, became the most important person in the household. I had my hair washed, I was carefully dressed, and the final inspection came from my mother with a last comb of the hair.
He used to come and have dinner with us at home. As soon as we finished eating dessert, he would follow me and we would all go into my room which he chose as the place where he wanted to draw my portrait.
Foujita would take off his shoes and sit down on the carpet crossing his legs, as my entire family, a little behind, watched respectfully the mystery that was going to unfold...
For me, it was real torture because I had never been able to sit still for long! In the end, I would fidget in the chair. My mother acted like the police, endlessly repeating "sit still!"
But the artist kept silent, content to gaze intently on me from behind his little round glasses. Then he would focus on his sheet of rice paper, only lifting his head for several intense glances. I also remember clearly his heavy bangs all across his forehead, still very black...
Then, when the session was over, he would stand up as supple as a young man (he was then 70 years old), and after shaking my hand quite formally, he would leave until the next session, taking with him under his arm a folder that was almost bigger than he.
I have had this drawing for nearly forty-five years now and it has followed me like a double through numerous moves....