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FOUJITA, A UNIQUE BLEND OF EAST AND WEST
Foujita is a master, a virtuoso of the brush. Fude is the Japanese word for the fine brush with short bristles on the end and a flexible, tapered point, making it easy to vary the width of the line to create very energetic patterns. It is easy to use, despite its capacity to absorb a large amount of water. The tip can be made from the hair of sheep, sables, weasels, hares, squirrels, cats or deer and sometimes foxes, monkeys or buffalo. The Japanese brush has a thick base so that the point can write effectively when holding a large amount of ink. Most have two or three longer hairs in the center of the tuft, known as "life-hairs".
Foujita, in the silence of his studio with only his cat's soft steps to disturb him, that Foujita developed his own style using the tip of his brush, at the mid-point between two cultures - one from his homeland, Oriental, and the other from his adoptive France, Western. He worked on this style from his arrival in Paris in 1913. Choosing to work intensely rather than sleep, from 1921 he succeeded in covering his canvass in a white preparation providing the ideal surface to receive his brush strokes.
Using a recipe he developed in 1921 and would not disclose, Foujita transformed his canvass into an ivory-white surface on which his brush traced the outlines of shapes in ink and oil, with genius, certainly, but also a knowledge of shapes and anatomy and an emotion which drips unrepentantly from every brushstroke.
As well as the famous fine brush, used in Japan for writing as well as drawing, Foujita uses cotton wool brushes and pads to produce the shadows and the very subtle grey tones which lend the subject's musculature, for example, its veracity, strength and character. Softer for the woman, more striking for the man and especially the athlete, this shading grounds his compositions and gives volume and depth to his work. The grey shadows vary according to the period and subject but, from 1917 through to 1967, they return consistently in the expression of depth and the way the object stands out from its background. They are sometimes also enhanced with watercolor or a mixture of ink and watercolor, or ink and gouache for the blue or even ochre tones. Some drawings from the 1950s feature slightly bluish shadows like wisps of pipe tobacco. These shadows are so light they resemble a reflection, emphasizing the line, giving it three dimensions and providing a spatial measurement of the jug, the teapot, the doll, the nude, the animal or the child. It often spills over into a whole section of the painting when it is needed to emphasize an adjacent area. It often appears as a sheen, a stain, an accident which brings the figure to life. Foujita generally allows himself to be completely free in his treatment of shadow, reflections and the way they interact. The light illuminates the subject face-on with such softness that it ends up becoming lost. An impression of volume, roundness and subtlety distilled life remains, however.
From 1915 to 1917, the year the Galerie Chéron hosted his first personal exhibition, the shortages prevalent during the war forced him to abandon oil paint and resort to watercolor, gouache and paper. It was then that he developed his first Parisian style, going on to reproduce the natural refinement of Japanese paper on canvas, using his familiarity with oils. He broadly drew his inspiration from the early ukiyo-e period of Japanese print-making to represent very modern figures resembling those of Modigliani or Brancusi, stylizing shapes in the manner of a Negro mask or the ovoid heads of primitive idols.
Collecting Foujita means perceiving these bursts of short-lived, infinitesimal, delicate, yet strong and modern poetic vibrations, conveyed with minimalism and a subtle and delicate effort by the artist. Beyond the obvious beauty, even close inspection cannot reveal the secrets of a Foujita's hidden beauty which can only be conveyed through the heart - the heart of the work, the heart of the artist and the heart of the collector.
Sylvie Buisson
Union Française des Experts - Foujita expert
Formerly curator of the Musée du Montparnasse, Paris
Author of the Catalogue Général of Foujita's work
1987 - "Foujita" published by ACR, Paris (vol. I)
2001 - "Foujita" published by ACR, Paris (vol. II)
2007 - "Foujita, inédits" published by Archives Artistiques - Fondation Nichido (vol. III)
Vol. IV is currently being prepared
Leonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968)
Fillette à la poupée mexicaine
Details
Leonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968)
Fillette à la poupée mexicaine
signed, dated and inscribed 'Foujita 1950 Paris' (lower left)
oil on canvas
13 ¾ x 10 5/8 in. (35 x 27 cm.)
Painted in Paris in 1950
Fillette à la poupée mexicaine
signed, dated and inscribed 'Foujita 1950 Paris' (lower left)
oil on canvas
13 ¾ x 10 5/8 in. (35 x 27 cm.)
Painted in Paris in 1950
Provenance
Galerie Pétridès, Paris.
François Lapauze, Paris; sale, Sotheby's, London, 28 June 1989, lot 233.
Anon. sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 18 November 1992, lot 72.
Private collection, Paris (acquired at the above sale).
Acquired from the above by the present owner, by 2009.
François Lapauze, Paris; sale, Sotheby's, London, 28 June 1989, lot 233.
Anon. sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 18 November 1992, lot 72.
Private collection, Paris (acquired at the above sale).
Acquired from the above by the present owner, by 2009.
Literature
S. Buisson, Léonard-Tsuguharu Foujita, sa vie, son oeuvre, Paris, 2001, vol. II, p. 392, no. 50.151 (illustrated).
Exhibited
Dinard, Palais des Arts et du Festival, Foujita, le maître japonais de Montparnasse, June-September 2004, p. 187, no. 125 (illustrated in color, p. 139).
Valencia, Centro Cultural Bancaja and Barcelona, Museu Diocesà, Foujita, Entre Oriente y Occidente, July-October 2005, p. 267, no. 70 (illustrated in color, p. 218).
Paris, Galerie Felix Vercel, 40e anniversaire de la disparition de Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, November 2007-January 2008, no. 8 (illustrated in color).
Valencia, Centro Cultural Bancaja and Barcelona, Museu Diocesà, Foujita, Entre Oriente y Occidente, July-October 2005, p. 267, no. 70 (illustrated in color, p. 218).
Paris, Galerie Felix Vercel, 40e anniversaire de la disparition de Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, November 2007-January 2008, no. 8 (illustrated in color).
Brought to you by
David Kleiweg de Zwaan