69 Facts About Tsuguharu Foujita

Tsuguharu Foujita spent three years voyaging through South and North America before returning to Japan in 1933, documenting his observations in sketches and paintings.

Tsuguharu Foujita received French nationality in 1955 and converted to Catholicism in 1959.

Tsuguharu Foujita died in 1968, not long after the chapel officially opened.

In France, Tsuguharu Foujita is remembered as part of the annees folles of the 1920s, but public opinion of him in Japan remains mixed due to his monumental depictions of the war.

Tsuguharu Foujita was born in 1886 in Ushigome, a former ward of Tokyo that is part of the Shinjuku Ward.

Tsuguharu Foujita was the son of Fujita Tsuguakira Fujita, an Army Medical Director.

Tsuguharu Foujita developed an interest in painting in primary school and as an adolescent decided to become a painter.

When he was fourteen, one of Tsuguharu Foujita's watercolors was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris as one of the representative artworks by Japanese middle schoolers.

Tsuguharu Foujita began studying French as a high schooler and hoped to study in France after finishing school.

Tsuguharu Foujita enrolled in 1905 at what is the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and studied under Seiki Kuroda, who taught yoga, western-style painting.

Tsuguharu Foujita took courses on nihonga, Japanese-style painting, led by Seiho Takeuchi and Gyokusho Kawabata.

Tsuguharu Foujita met his first wife, Tomiko Tokita, a school teacher, during a voyage to Chiba Prefecture during which he realized a number of paintings for his diploma, including the artist's first-known first self-portrait.

Unsure of his personal style and never having lost sight of his dream to travel to Paris, Tsuguharu Foujita decided to leave in 1913, when he was 27 years old.

Tsuguharu Foujita moved to Paris in 1913, at a time when foreign artists flourished, hoping to develop their artistic sensibilities and gain recognition in the European art capital.

Tsuguharu Foujita settled in Montparnasse, and quickly became part of the eclectic art scene there that, lacking a clear style or discipline, later became known as the Ecole de Paris.

Tsuguharu Foujita quickly made friends with the Japanese painter Riichiro Kawashima, who had many connections in the Paris art scene, as they shared a studio.

Tsuguharu Foujita developed a friendship with photographer Shinzo Fukuhara, who piqued Tsuguharu Foujita's interest in photography.

Tsuguharu Foujita began signing his paintings with the French-looking spelling of his name, Foujita, rather than Fujita, and improved his French language skills.

Tsuguharu Foujita distinguished himself from many of his Japanese confreres, who sought to affirm their mastery of oil paint, as Foujita worked primarily in watercolor.

Tsuguharu Foujita's visit to Picasso's studio introduced him to the "naive" style of Henri Rousseau, as Picasso owned one of Rousseau's works and had it hanging on his wall.

Additionally, Tsuguharu Foujita had a financially difficult time because his father was no longer able to send him his annuity due to the war.

Tsuguharu Foujita informed his father that he no longer needed financial support and would be staying indefinitely in Europe.

Tsuguharu Foujita secured an arrangement between Foujita and the Galerie Cheron, where he had his first solo exhibitions.

Tsuguharu Foujita's first solo show, in which he presented 110 of his water colors, was a great success.

Tsuguharu Foujita was a regular at popular clubs and events, immediately recognizable thanks to his signature bowl-cut and round glasses.

Warnod states that Tsuguharu Foujita "knew how to look with his own eyes and paint according to his temperament, without worrying too much about others": compared to other Japanese painters, Tsuguharu Foujita was seen as having "personality".

In 1917, Tsuguharu Foujita began drawing figures in a highly stylized manner, often in profile, which appear to draw on both medieval primitive painting, as well as Amadeo Modigliani's simplified portraits.

Tsuguharu Foujita's works were appreciated as the harmonious meeting of Japanese and European aesthetics.

Tsuguharu Foujita drew inspiration from ukiyo-e artists such as Suzuki Harunobu and Kitagawa Utamaro, who left their female figures' skin uncolored, though he painted the Black artists' model and performer Aicha Goblet in a more Cubist style.

Tsuguharu Foujita wrote that the objective of his nudes was to "represent the quality of the most beautiful material there is: that of human skin".

Tsuguharu Foujita received an important Parisian commission in the late 1920s that showcased his capacity to create in the Japanese artistic tradition.

In 1922, Tsuguharu Foujita met Lucie Badoul, who he called "Youki", the Japanese word for "snow", and she became one of his models.

Around the time of his marriage to Youki, Tsuguharu Foujita was having serious financial woes.

Tsuguharu Foujita had been living a luxurious life of celebrity in Paris but he had not been paying taxes since 1925.

Tsuguharu Foujita left for Japan with Youki, hoping he might be able to recoup his losses by exhibiting there.

Tsuguharu Foujita returned to France via the United States, travelling to Hawai'i, San Francisco, and New York.

Tsuguharu Foujita briefly returned to New York to organize a one-man exhibition at the Paul Reinhardt Gallery, but the show was not successful.

When Tsuguharu Foujita returned to Paris in 1930, he was still short on funds, and shared a place with Robert Desnos who he had met in 1928.

Tsuguharu Foujita then went to Mexico, arriving in November 1932, where he would stay for seven months.

Tsuguharu Foujita found himself inspired by the Mexican Mural Movement, led by Diego Rivera, whom he had befriended in Paris.

Tsuguharu Foujita visited the artist Tamiji Kitagawa at his home in Taxco.

Tsuguharu Foujita had learned about Kitagawa through an exhibit of his student's plein-air works that had traveled through Europe.

Tsuguharu Foujita was so impressed by Kitagawa's students' works that he had sixty of the canvases brought back to Japan for an exhibition that was held in 1936.

Tsuguharu Foujita returned to Japan with Madeleine at the end of 1933.

Tsuguharu Foujita sought to contribute to the war effort by the war on the front, and these civilian volunteers formed the Association of War Artists of Imperial Japan.

In 1938, Tsuguharu Foujita began working with the Imperial Navy Information Office establishment as a war artist and created his first war painting, Nanchang Airport Fire.

In spite of his strong connections with the Army Art Association, Tsuguharu Foujita decided to return to Paris in April 1939.

Tsuguharu Foujita became the nation's leading war artists during World War II, creating a prolific number of war paintings and overseeing special exhibits for the military.

Tsuguharu Foujita received important commissions, like the Battle of Nomonhan, painted in 1941, a monumental painting measuring nearly 1.5 x 4.5 meters.

The sources for Tsuguharu Foujita's paintings were not the battlefields themselves, but his imagination, resulting in shocking dramatic compositions that Ozaki compares to representations of hell found in classical Japanese painting.

Tsuguharu Foujita made paintings in a similar vein to Last Stand at Attu until the war's end in 1945.

Tsuguharu Foujita received much public criticism after the war in Japan.

Tsuguharu Foujita defended himself by asserting that artists were pacifists in nature, but the Japan Art Association listed him as an artist responsible for the war in 1946.

The American poet Harry Roskolenko tried to support Tsuguharu Foujita by putting on an exhibit of his paintings at the Kennedy and Company Galleries in New York, but none of the paintings were sold.

Tsuguharu Foujita was able to get a visa to the United States with the help of Henry Sugimoto and took up a teaching position at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in March 1949.

Tsuguharu Foujita put on another show, but was once more labelled a fascist by artists, including Ben Shahn, who organized a demonstration against him.

Unhappy and unwelcome in New York, Tsuguharu Foujita sought to return to Paris and once his visa was granted, Tsuguharu Foujita and Kimiyo moved back to France in January 1950.

The couple moved to Montparnasse where Tsuguharu Foujita began painting street scenes that he called "Paris Landscapes".

Tsuguharu Foujita briefly became involved with costume design, creating the "Japanese" outfits for the May 1951 performance of Madame Butterfly at La Scala, and did illustrations for a book by Rene Heron de Villefosse In 1954, Foujita married Kimiyo.

In 1962, Tsuguharu Foujita created a plan to construct and decorate his own chapel, as Matisse had done before him.

Tsuguharu Foujita hoped that the structure, named the Chapel of Our Lady of Peace and built with the help of Lalou's funding, would symbolize the completion of his career.

Only a few months after the opening of the chapel, Tsuguharu Foujita was diagnosed with cancer.

Tsuguharu Foujita died on January 29,1968, in Zurich, Switzerland.

Tsuguharu Foujita was first interred in the chapel, but Kimiyo had his body transferred to the Cimetiere de Villiers-le-Bacle, near her.

In France, Tsuguharu Foujita remains associated primarily with the Ecole de Paris and the annees folles of the roaring twenties.

Tsuguharu Foujita is known for his lighthearted and dainty subjects: Parisian streetscapes, cats, voluptuous women, everyday objects.

An exhibition presenting the ensemble of Tsuguharu Foujita's work, including his wartime production, was organized by the Centre Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo in 1980, but was canceled at the last minute.

Tsuguharu Foujita's works are part of major French collections, such as those of the Centre Pompidou, the Musee d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, and Paris' Fonds d'art contemporain.

Tsuguharu Foujita's nephew's donated some of his works and writings to the Musee des beaux-arts of Reims in 2012.