Pencil and watercolour on paper

38.5 x 46.4 cm. 15 1/8 x 18 1/4 in.

Signed in Japanese and French on middle left
LITERATURE
2001, Leonard-Tsuguharu Foujita. Sa vie, son oeuvre （Vol.2）, Sylvie & Dominique Buisson, ACR Creation Realisation, Paris, p.27, Ill.27.24

PROVENANCE
Oct 1992, Sotheby's London Autumn Auction, Lot 197
Private Collection, Asia

An Elegant Blend of Japanese and Western Art
Deux Amies by Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita
Born into a noble family in Tokyo, Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita went to study painting under Kuroda Seiki, at what is now the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1910. In 1915, he went to Paris to further explore art. In the continuous art wave in Montparnasse, he achieved his characteristic traits of novelty which combines bold forms from the West and the exquisite brushstrokes from the East, by applying the sinuous and delicate lines from ukiyo-e to Western-style paintings. Moreover, he ingeniously blended ground oyster shell powder into the paint, which perfectly reflects the flawless "ivory white skin" of the female models and presents a breathtaking beauty in his nude painting, stunning the Paris art scene. One such example is a portrait of the artist's muse Kiki, Reclining Nude, which became a sensation in the Salon d'Automne of 1922 and was sold for 8,000 francs. With this work, he rose to fame and became one of the most expensive painters of the time, leading Parisian art scene in the first half of the 20th century together with artists like Amedeo Modigliani and Chaim Soutine.
This year, the 50th anniversary of the death of Fujita, large-scale retrospectives are held in Paris and Japan, letting the late "Darling of Paris" to re-enter the contemporary vision and show the never fading charm of his artistic creation.
Kiki and Yuki: the epitome of Paris's Golden Years
The work Deux Amies, presented in the autumn auction, is finished in 1927 when Foujita was yielding brilliance in Paris. Since the 1920s, he began to seek changes in his female nude painting. Thus the image of two naked women accompanying each other for either friendship or love often appeared in his painting and became one of the most iconic themes of his work. Deux Amies, included in the comprehensive catalog of the artist, is one of the representatives. Another work analogous to it is collected by Musée Maillol in Paris and became one of the most popular works among the audience.
The women depicted in Deux Amies are Kiki and Yuki, two models who have left the artist a lasting influence. With eyes slightly closed, Youki on the left only shows the right side of her face. However, her facial feature and the noble and elegant temperament are more prominent in this way. Her right arm stretches across the picture, hanging on Kiki's shoulder, occupying the central space of the picture, and highlighting the close friendship of two figures. The sinuous lines which outline the arm show the strength and rhythm of the ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings, presenting a fresh and vigorous arm, as well as the beauty of vitality which differs from the Eastern pursuit of fineness. On the right, the clear and pure light blue pupils of Kiki are comparable to the glistening light of the Rhine river. Her downcast eyes shed a misted and romantic atmosphere. At the overlapping place of the fabric folds and the skin of the two women, Foujita outlined the shades with colored pencil drawings, bringing subtle gloss to the skin. The simple sketch of a flower is deliberately placed between the necks of Kiki and Yuki, sealing the serene moment of two stunning beauties leaning on each other in the painting, which has become an unforgettable epitome of the golden years in Paris in the 1920s.

Price estimate:
HKD: 350,000 - 550,000
USD: 44,600 - 70,100

Auction Result:
HKD : 1,416,000