Tsuguharu Foujita (藤田 嗣治), Rue De La Santé, Au Temps De Paris Seine, 1964

Description

Lithograph on grand vélin des Papeteries de Lana paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition, with centerfold, as issued. … more Lithograph on grand vélin des Papeteries de Lana paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition, with centerfold, as issued. Notes: From the folio, Au Temps de Paris Seine, 1964. Published by Pierre de Tartas, Éditeur, Paris-Bièvres; printed by L'Ateliers Guillard Gourdon et Cie, Paris, 1964. Excerpted from the folio (translated from French), A unique example on Japon nacre, including original works by three painters as well as a study file, a suite of original lithographs on vélin de Lana, a suite of original lithographs in the margins of prints signed by the artists. Ten examples on Japon nacre, containing an original work by one of the painters, a voucher to be drawn from one of the plates, a continuation of the original lithographs on vélin de Lana, numbered from A to J. Thirty examples on Japon nacre with a suite of original lithographs on vélin de Lana. Numbered from 1 to 30. All the above copies have been signed by several painters. Fifty examples on vélin de Lana with a suite of original lithographs. Numbered from 31 to 80. One hundred eighty examples on grand vélin de Lana with the final state of the illustrations. Numbered from 81 to 260.

LEONARD TSUGUHARU FOUJITA (藤田 嗣治) (1886–1968) was a Japanese–French painter. After having studied Western-style painting in Japan, Foujita traveled to Paris, where he encountered the international modern art scene of the Montparnasse neighborhood and developed an eclectic style that borrowed from both Japanese and European artistic traditions. With his unusual fashion and distinctive figurative style, Foujita reached the height of his fame in 1920s Paris. His watercolor and oil works of nudes, still lifes, and self-portraits were a commercial success and he became a notable figure in the Parisian art scene.
Foujita spent three years voyaging through South and North America before returning to Japan in 1933, documenting his observations in sketches and paintings. Upon his return home, Foujita became an official war artist during World War II, illustrating battle scenes to raise the morale of the Japanese troops and citizens. His oil paintings won him acclaim during the war, but the public's view of him turned negative in the wake of the Japanese defeat. Without significant prospects in the post-WWII Japanese art scene, Foujita returned to France in 1950, where he would spend the rest of his life. He received French nationality in 1955 and converted to Catholicism in 1959. His latter years were spent working on the frescoes for a small, Romanesque chapel in Reims that he had constructed. He died in 1968, not long after the chapel officially opened. Foujita is a much-celebrated figure in France, but public opinion of him in Japan remains mixed due to his monumental depictions of the war. Recent retrospective exhibitions organized since 2006 in Japan have sought to establish Foujita's place in Japanese twentieth-century art history. less