Jeune Femme aux Cheveux Longs (Young Woman with Long Hair)

In August 1913, Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita travelled to Paris from Japan planning to stay there for four years. There he lived and worked in Montmartre amongst the other non-French artists working in Paris before the First World War, who formed the Ecole de Paris. He was inspired by European art movements he encountered for the first time including Fauvism and Cubism. Foujita adapted to Parisian life and immersed himself in meeting other artists and observing their work, instead of receiving formal training at school.

Foujita’s first marriage in 1912 in Japan to Tomiko Tokita ended in 1916, and in 1917 he met and fell in love with Fernande Barrey, a young painter studying in Montparnasse, and married her soon after. It was in this period that Foujita experienced his first major successes, exhibiting six works at the Salon d’Automne in 1919, two more in 1920, and three in 1921. However, with professional success came the end of his marriage to Fernande, who would quickly be replaced by the fair-skinned and cheerful Lucie Badoul, nicknamed “Youki” by the artist. Foujita and Youki married in 1924, the same year the present work was painted, and his new wife would serve as his muse and principal model for the next decade.

The work is accompanied by a certificate issued by Sylvie Buisson confirming the authenticity, numbered D24.193.D and dated 3rd July 2014.