By the 1960s, Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita’s views on life and creativity had changed. The artist was already older than age 70, and the erotic depictions of the female body seen in his earlier work gradually faded from view, replaced instead by wholesome portrayals of children and young girls. Having become devout in his later years, the artist’s portrayals make use of rich symbolism to communicate his faith as well as his optimism and serenity. Jeune fille aux fleurs (Lot 1039) is a masterwork of this period in Foujita’s life and is a testimony to the artist’s uncompromising belief in truth, goodness and beauty in the face of life’s challenges and vicissitudes.

The painting depicts a beautiful girl with blonde hair and a gentle expression. She looks slightly off to one side as her hands touch her cheeks, giving the appearance of a bashfulness suggesting flawless purity. The surrounding roses glisten with elegance, blooming as if drawing from an unseen force of enduring life. The teachings of Catholicism state that the thorns of a rose are a metaphor for original sin and the Virgin Mary is “a rose without thorns,” as she is the only person free from original sin. The bright floral imagery in the painting is reminiscent of the Renaissance master Botticelli’s 1480 masterpiece Primavera, painted to congratulate newly married members of the Medici family. The roses in Jeune fille aux fleurs, like the flowers scattered to the earth from the hands of Flora in Botticelli’s Primavera, not only signify the visual beauty, but also universal love and harmony. They represent the refinement of half a century of the artist’s collected aesthetic considerations.

In the year of his death in 1968, Foujita’s close friends and family collaborated with Gallery Nichido in Tokyo to co-curate a large-scale retrospective exhibition of his life’s work. Foujita à Paris exhibited in the cities of Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya. Displayed alongside works by Foujita were pieces by his friends and family, as well as works by painters from the Paris School such as Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani and Raoul Duffy. Jeune fille aux fleurs constitutes an important part of the artist’s late creative work, representative of the purity and beauty he spent his entire life pursuing. The work’s importance is evident in its selection for this exhibition.

In its 2019 Autumn Auctions, Sotheby’s presented a similar work by Foujita, Portrait de jeune femme aux roses. The painting’s subject matter, production date, size and composition are all very similar to Jeune fille aux fleurs. Comparing the two works, the latter’s composition and colouration are clearly fuller, with the expression on the face of the subject in Jeune fille aux fleurs also depicted in a smoother and more lifelike fashion. Currently available for auction, the work represents the finest selection among pieces on a similar theme, implying a movement toward happiness and joy on a new journey full of countless unknowns.

藤田嗣治作為巴黎畫派中唯一的日本面孔，秉持特立獨行的人格與美學視角，早在二〇年代即以「乳白色裸女」風靡全球，而步入六〇年代，年屆古稀的藝術家對於人生的感悟與創作心境已有所不同，早期對於女體情色的描繪逐漸淡出視野，取而代之的是以天真無邪的孩童和少女為題的創作。因藝術家晚年浸淫於宗教的氛圍中，其筆下的甜美刻畫，自然多帶有些許宗教色彩，並通過象徵手法傳達堅定的信仰，寄語豁達平和之心境，《薔薇少女》（拍品編號1039）即為此階段之代表作，見證藝術家在經歷人生起落與時代變遷後，對於真、善、美的至善未泯。

畫中金發女子溫婉甜美，視線微低向一側，雙手輕觸面頰，呈現少女羞赧之態，象徵純潔無暇。艷紅、淡粉、鵝黃色的薔薇嬌豔欲滴， 緊密環繞少女身周恣意盛放，帶有一種生命延續的無形力量。薔薇花莖上滿佈荊棘，影射世間以「帶刺薔薇」作為愛情之比喻，想必是藤田嗣治對於往昔情愛迷醉的留戀；在天主教教義中，薔薇荊棘還隱喻著世人之原罪，而聖母則被譽為「無刺薔薇」，因為她是唯一不帶原罪、最貞潔、而受到世人景仰的存在。如此花團錦簇的畫面不僅令人聯想到文藝復興時期大師桑德羅·波提切利1480年為恭賀美第奇家族成員新婚而創作的名畫《春》，畫中花神芙蘿拉被同樣鮮花團繞，《薔薇少女》中的玫瑰與如同芙蘿拉手中灑向大地的鮮花，不僅代表大自然的視覺之美，還象徵著博愛與諧和，是藝術家凝練半世紀的美學沉思。

1968年，即藤田嗣治離世同年，東京日動畫廊聯合藤田嗣治生前親友共同策劃藝術家大型回顧展〈藤田嗣治在巴黎〉，在日本大阪、東京、名古屋巡迴展出。一同展出的除藤田的作品之外，尚有藤田當年的親友、及巴黎畫派中相熟畫家之作，比如畢加索、莫迪利亞尼、拉乌尔·杜菲等，《薔薇少女》作為藝術家晚年創作重要之一環，代表其終其一生所追求的純摯美好，入選參展，其重要意義可見一斑。

蘇富比2019年秋拍中呈獻過藤田嗣治另一幅《玫瑰少女》，無論主題、年份、尺寸、構圖皆與本畫十分相近，但若將兩畫並觀，本幅《薔薇少女》的構圖、色彩運用明顯更為飽滿，人物神態亦更為生動婉轉；背景亦加入一片開闊的青空，予人一種如沐春風的美感體驗。如今本畫現身拍場，代表同主題作品中的上乘之選，寓意在充滿未知數的嶄新旅程中，走向美滿與喜樂。