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Lot Essay
In August 1913, Foujita travelled to Paris planning to stay there for four years. He, for the first time, realized how much the avant-grade art in Europe had evolved and was much astonished by these art movements, like Fauvism and Cubism. The artist was experiencing a period in which all kinds of artistic style were thriving vigorously, though it did not last long enough for him because of the outbreak of the First World War. In Foujita's article, Seventeen Years in France, published in the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun, the artist mentioned that he "smashed his paint box" after seeing Picasso's work. Later on he described his creation as "a combination of meticulously executed lines in Japanese painting style and the liberation of Matisse"1. Foujita soon adapted to Parisian life and greatly enjoyed exposing himself to different artwork and meeting artists instead of receiving formal training at school. Caf?s in Montparnasse were frequented by the artist, in which he sometimes created artwork, revealed in one of his letters to his father. Yet, the Belle ?poque (1871-1914) came to an end in 1914 with the outbreak of the First World War. The use of dreary gray color tone in his work during his first few years in Paris may perhaps be explained as a means to portrait his perception of Paris. R?ve (paysage nocturne) (Dream (nocturnal landscape)(Lot 3326) best exemplified Foujita's artistic development in this period.
In the late 1920s, L?onard Tsuguhara Foujita became one of the most prominent and celebrated artists in Paris. The Art critic Andr? Warnod once commented on his success, saying "wealth and fame did not knock on the wrong door this time".
Nonetheless, the financial crisis of 1929 in the United States eventually hampered European art market severely and signified the culmination of the Golden Twenties, the prosperous period after the First World War. 1930s indicates a crucial period in Foujita's career, in which he left Paris in 1931 and set off on a three-year journey in Central and South America. Influenced by its distinct culture and Mexican murals, Foujita expanded his palette to more exuberant and vibrant colors. The advent of the Second World War in September 1939 forced Foujita to return to Japan from Paris. He later moved back to France in 1950. The artist gradually moved away from his earlier monochromatic depiction of nudes and strived for narrative multicolored composition. Jeune femme de profil, les mains crois?es sur la poitrine (Woman in profile, hands folded over breast)(Lot 3328), Deux Fillettes ? la Poup?e (Two girls with a doll)(Lot 3329), Les deux enfants portant le pain et le lait (Lot 3330), markedly exemplified Foujita's artistic development in this period. Instead of nudes, which were once his frequently explored subject matter, Foujita portrays figures of children, revealing a "green paradise of innocent love" (verts paradis des amours enfantines).
Even though Foujita is markedly inspired by Western painting during his stay in Paris, the artist places hardly any emphasis on capturing the nuanced change of light and shadow. Instead he is immensely concerned with the delicate gradation casted by shadow and depicting human figure and visual texture. The artist created a distinct color, le grand fond blanc, a translucent ivory white that is unprecedented in Western art history. Such milky white ground combined with grayish shadow allows figures to be sculpture-like. Additionally, his use of oil paint mixed with white talc powder gives his work a smooth glaze-like, translucent appearance, a texture rarely achieved by oil paint. Most of the time, Foujita first drafted with pencils, charcoal and ink, and then added shadow and light color to the sketch, and lastly he painted with diluted oil paint or ink using a very fine brush. French Writer Paul Morand once commented, "Foujita's mastery of drawing refined lines on a flawlessly ivory white canvas and his depiction of shadow in a non-material form created a pure and mysterious form of artK"
In the late 1920s, L?onard Tsuguhara Foujita became one of the most prominent and celebrated artists in Paris. The Art critic Andr? Warnod once commented on his success, saying "wealth and fame did not knock on the wrong door this time".
Nonetheless, the financial crisis of 1929 in the United States eventually hampered European art market severely and signified the culmination of the Golden Twenties, the prosperous period after the First World War. 1930s indicates a crucial period in Foujita's career, in which he left Paris in 1931 and set off on a three-year journey in Central and South America. Influenced by its distinct culture and Mexican murals, Foujita expanded his palette to more exuberant and vibrant colors. The advent of the Second World War in September 1939 forced Foujita to return to Japan from Paris. He later moved back to France in 1950. The artist gradually moved away from his earlier monochromatic depiction of nudes and strived for narrative multicolored composition. Jeune femme de profil, les mains crois?es sur la poitrine (Woman in profile, hands folded over breast)(Lot 3328), Deux Fillettes ? la Poup?e (Two girls with a doll)(Lot 3329), Les deux enfants portant le pain et le lait (Lot 3330), markedly exemplified Foujita's artistic development in this period. Instead of nudes, which were once his frequently explored subject matter, Foujita portrays figures of children, revealing a "green paradise of innocent love" (verts paradis des amours enfantines).
Even though Foujita is markedly inspired by Western painting during his stay in Paris, the artist places hardly any emphasis on capturing the nuanced change of light and shadow. Instead he is immensely concerned with the delicate gradation casted by shadow and depicting human figure and visual texture. The artist created a distinct color, le grand fond blanc, a translucent ivory white that is unprecedented in Western art history. Such milky white ground combined with grayish shadow allows figures to be sculpture-like. Additionally, his use of oil paint mixed with white talc powder gives his work a smooth glaze-like, translucent appearance, a texture rarely achieved by oil paint. Most of the time, Foujita first drafted with pencils, charcoal and ink, and then added shadow and light color to the sketch, and lastly he painted with diluted oil paint or ink using a very fine brush. French Writer Paul Morand once commented, "Foujita's mastery of drawing refined lines on a flawlessly ivory white canvas and his depiction of shadow in a non-material form created a pure and mysterious form of artK"