Born in Japan in 1886, Foujita was raised during the Meiji era, a time of opening for the country and notably to Western cultures. Influenced by Michel-Ange, Poussin and Rodin, Foujita enjoyed success with a personal style, with his milky background that caught the light and the subtle contours in Chinese ink of his subjects. Imbued with the European modernity, he would keep an Oriental accuracy and simplicity, mixing 'the rigor of the Japanese line with the freedom of Matisse' as he said himself.
Read MoreHe studied at the School of Fine Arts in Tokyo till 1910. In 1913 he moved to Paris where he quickly became one the most famous artists of the Années Folles (1920-1929), both for his style and for his sense of celebration and friendships with the most important artists at the time such as Picasso, Derain, Apollinaire, Modigliani, Soutine, Van Dongen, Chagall, Pascin, Zadkine, and in general every artists of the first hours of the Ecole de Paris.
Painter and engraver, Foujita was also a draughtsman, an illustrator, a sculptor, a ceramist, a photographer, a filmmaker, a fashion designer and a designer.
Text courtesy Helene Bailly
