Watercolour and ink on paper

24.1 x 27 cm.9 1/4 x 10 5/8 in.

Signed in English and Japanese, inscribed in English and dated on bottom left
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Japan
Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Tokyo Bijutsu Club

The Nostalgic Wanderer of a Moveable Feast
The Characters in Foujita's Portrait

Ernest Hemingway described Paris in the early 20th century as a moveable feast. This creative mecca attracted artists around the world, among which the French-Japanese painter Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita stood out and became so popular that Pablo Picasso stopped at his first solo exhibition in 1917 for three hours long. Foujita outlined the figures with lines that mimicked the thin ink lines of Japanese ukiyo-e woodprints, filled the blanks with grey ink to imitate shadow, and used white paint with calcium carbonate to highlight the skin texture of some body parts to show the Yūgen ideal in Japanese aesthetics. After his arrival in Paris in 1913, Foujita became an instant success and was considered as the absolute core of École de Paris in the late 20th century. He started travelling around the Americas in 1931 and then dispatched by the Japanese government to Beijing on an artistic mission. Three paintings that this auction offers were created over this special period of time. Let's see what happened then that inspired this talented artist.

All Walks of Life in One Single Painting
Foujita landed in Mexico with his lover Madelein in November 1932, when he started working on Portraits of Tokyo(Lot 110). In addition to himself, Foujita included 20 other Japanese characters, such as a babbling child, a middle-age man dressed in ragged clothes, sisters engaged in private conservations, a housewife on her knees with her head down, etc. The artist depicted people from various walks of life on a rather small paper as his interpretation on life in his 40s. The influence of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, a master of the ukiyo-e style during the Edo period who was obsessed with cats, is evident in his composition. The feeling of flatness and lightness adds to the Eastern ambience of the painting.

Milky Skin with an Exotic Tone
Portrait of a Wealthy Lady(Lot 112), finished in 1934, features a Mexican woman around 50 years old from the upper class. Her well-groomed curls are immaculately tucked behind the ears, enhancing the gloss of the pearl earrings. Her exquisite makeup and luxurious outfit tell a lot about her social status. Foujita outlined the figure with ink lines and used diluted black watercolour to create the light grey halo that makes the texture of the painting silkier. This signature technique perfectly pairs the light shadow with the thin lines, which rendered her skin with a milky-white hue similar to that in oil painting. This piece can be called as his best watercolor painting. He had been working on it during his trip in South America and finally finished it when he was back to Tokyo.

The Precious Creation in Beijing
In 1934, Foujita, who lived in Tokyo by then, was sent in November by the Japanese government to Beijing, where he created a series of portraits of Chinese people based on his unique observations of their day-to-day life. A Chinese Man(Lot 111) on sale at this auction features a man who is no longer in long braid but still wears a Manchu cheongsam, looking firm and persistent. It is estimated that very few Foujita's creations in Beijing have ever been exhibited in public and that there are less than five such works on paper in the secondary market, so it means a lot for the Japanese collector of this piece to witness its debut at the auction.

Price estimate:
HKD: 100,000 –200,000
USD: 12,800 – 25,500

Auction Result:
HKD: 295,000