“EVERYTHING I PAINT IS MY OWN STYLE, ALTHOUGH THEY ARE REPRESENTATIONAL, THE PAINTINGS ARE TECHNICALLY VERY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PAINTERS. I PAINT WITH JAPANESE BRUSH AND INK AND USE COLORS WITH A SENSE OF TRANSPARENCY, SOMETHING THAT HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE. SPEAKING OF THE INCREDIBLE CHARM OF THE BRUSH, IT IS JUST HABITUAL AND SECOND NATURE TO ME; IT FLOWS THROUGH MY BLOOD AS A DESCENDENT OF THE ORIENT. IT FIRMLY ESTABLISHES MY FOUNDATION AS A JAPANESE THAT TRAVELED TO THE WEST. TO ME, IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO USE JAPANESE BRUSH AND INK IN MY OIL PAINTINGS, AND WITH JUST MY THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF THE WEST AM I ABLE TRULY ABLE TO KNOW THE EXCELLENCE OF ORIENTAL ART.”

- LÉONARD TSUGUHARU FOUJITA

Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita was born in Japan, notable for his pure exquisite fine lines and snowy skins represented in his paintings, Foujita was regarded as the most celebrated Japanese artist resided in France of the 20th century. Foujita entered Western Painting department of the Tokyo Arts Academy when he was eighteen, and was taught by Kuroda Seiki. One of Foujita’s watercolor paintings was selected for the Paris World Expo exhibition in 1900, 13 years later, Foujita decided to study in Paris. Not long after his arrival, Foujita befriended with “the outsiders” artists of France, such as Pablo Picasso, Moïse Kisling, Marc Chagall, whom were active in the surroundings of Montparnasse, they were referred as the artists of the Ecole de Paris.

In the Pola Museum of Art in Japan, it holds a painting done by Foujita named “Cubist Style Still Life” dated to the 1914, it was paint ed shortly after Foujita visited Picasso’s studio, where the compositions resembles the typical cubist style with geometric shapes. However, Foujita did not follow the style, instead, he was able to establish a distinctive style of his own, combining traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock paintings with acquire knowledge of the European renaissance techniques, his name was spread in no time acr oss the country of France.

In the beginning of Foujita’s arrival in Paris, he met Mike, a cat adopted by Foujita which later became inseparable from his life. To the artist, cat is very much similar to women in the sense that they are both unpredictable yet highly independent, at the same time, making life much more enjoyable. In 1917, the first solo exhibition was held at Galerie Chéron in Paris, presenting cat-themed watercolors, Picasso was present on the first day of the exhibition. In a short period of time, Foujita was awarded the Order of Leopold in Belgium and made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in France.

In 1933, Foujita and his dancer lover Madeleine Lequeux went on a journey around the world at a length of three-year, and stayed at Mexico for eight months. This particular lot “Le Mexicain” belongs to the limited amount of works that were produced during this period, faced with exotic scenery dif fered from that of Paris, Foujita combined the use of delicate fine lines of the Orient, silhouette the eyes and the outlines of Mexican men. Additionally, Foujita applied the technique of shadowing showed the common contrast in Western painting, and then draws the outline of the Mexican man through oriental ink lines, established unique style of his own.