Tsuguharu Foujita

Acquired by the family of the present owner in Paris in the 1920s

In very good condition. The canvas has been strip lined. The work has been cleaned. Scattered areas of old pinhead sized losses along bottom edge and, more densely, in upper left quadrant have been retouched, as well as two small areas in the woman's neck and hair. A two inch abrasion at lower center has been retouched and minimized.
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After studying Western Painting at Tokyo's School of Fine Arts in 1905, Foujita, who was eager to travel to Europe, was urged by his father to remain in Japan until he at least finished his artistic training.  Given its long history for hosting breakthroughs in the plastic arts, Paris remained the artistic Mecca for all artists working during the first quarter of the twentieth century.  Consequently, Foujita, who was drawn to the City of Lights, traveled there in 1913 and set up his first studio at No. 5 rue Delambre in Montparnasse.  The ex-patriot made quick time to meet Léger, Gris, Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, Soutine and other titans of his milieu.  Indeed, the time of Foujita's first residency in France, between 1913 and 1929, was when he cemented his reputation as an artist.

The influence of both Cubism and Futurism are evident in Femme cubiste.  Additionally, Foujita's familiarity with Léger's famed Contrast of Forms series is particularly evident (see Fig 2).  Foujita, emboldened by the radical approaches of his Parisian colleagues, embraced the Cubist idiom and was one of its practitioners.  The present work, painted in 1914, evidences the artist's comprehension of Cubism's goal: to reduce subjects to their essence using geometric elements while simultaneously rendering the depicted subject .  However, eschewing the static nature of Cubism, Foujita's knowledge of Futurism has dazzling consequences that can also be appreciated in Femme cubiste.  The multiple renditions of the sitter's hands and face add a kaleidoscopic effect that mesmerizes the viewer.  Simultaneously, the red-hot lips are emphasized by the cool turquoise-blue hues of the sitter's countenance as well as the cool blue-green hues of her costume. 

Fig. 1 Foujita aboard the SS Mishima Maru en route from Tokyo to Paris, 1913

Fig. 2 Fernand Léger, Le Femme en rouge et vert, 1914, oil on canvas, Collection of Musée national d'Art moderne, Paris