Fujita Tsuguji

▪ Japanese painter

also called  Fujita Tsuguharu, or Leonard Foujita  

born Nov. 27, 1886, Tokyo, Japan

died Jan. 29, 1968, Zürich, Switz.

      Japanese expatriate painter who applied French oil techniques to Japanese-style paintings.

      In 1910 Fujita graduated from what is now the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. Three years later he went to Paris, where he became the friend of many of the great forerunners of modern Western art, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Amedeo Modigliani. He lived primarily in France but made periodic trips to Japan. During World War II he returned to Japan, but in 1949 he left and in 1950 took up residence again in France, becoming a French citizen in 1955 and being awarded the Legion of Honour in 1957. He was christened Leonard upon converting to Roman Catholicism in 1966.

      Among his representative works, known for their blurred black-ink colouring and smooth, milk-white backgrounds, are “Self-Portrait with a Cat,” “The Cat,” and “A Nude.”

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