Tsuguharu Foujita

Wally Findlay Galleries, Chicago
Acquired from the above circa 1955

The canvas is unlined. When examined under UV light, There is a minor stroke of retouching to the lower right edge of the canvas and a small group of pin-dot touches to the upper right quadrant. There is very minor crazing to the paint surface to the right of the figure in the background. The varnish is a little yellow and would benefit from a light clean. Otherwise fine, the work is in excellent condition condition.
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Tsuguharu Foujita, known as Léonard in his adopted country of France, was born in Tokyo and took his initial instruction as a painter at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1905. It was not until 1913 that Foujita first traveled to Paris and became acquainted with many of the foremost painters of the twentieth century, including Picasso, Modigliani and Soutine. These key figures impressed upon the artist the expressive possibilities of the human form, and alongside them he swiftly became a leading member of the École de Paris. 

After traveling extensively in Latin America, he was welcomed back to Japan a celebrated artist and worked for several years as a war painter for the government. In the spring of 1950, he returned to Paris and enjoyed the same success as he had during "les années folles." Galerie Pétridès celebrated the artist's Parisian Renaissance with an exhibition that very year and continued to show his new paintings every two years. The present work was painted during this period and exemplifies the multitudinous inspirations the artist encountered, including Italian Renaissance madonnas. This playful composition's bright colors are contrasted with the characteristic white ground.