Bowl Cut, Lennon Glasses, and Cats, Cats, Cats

A young man born in Tokyo at the end of the nineteenth century dreamt of living as a painter in Paris. He would achieve that dream, residing in Montparnasse for some fifteen years, sharing his days and nights with artists (Modigliani, Picasso…) and models (the famous Kiki). With impeccable manners and an impenetrable deadpan, he witnessed parties of every sort, from cocktail parties (though he never imbibed) to orgies (again, refraining, not from lack of interest, but because he preferred his privacy). His eccentricities transcended his foreign birth: he wore a bowl cut, spectacles (oversized), and a moustache (undersized). His studio teemed with cats and featured a rare luxury in bohemian Paris – a bathtub, beloved by his models. He worked with the finest of lines in the tradition of Japanese ink painting, using a light, clear palette. The simple, immediate visual language he developed soon became popular. Then everything went sideways: he fled to Latin America over unpaid taxes and returned to Japan, where he contributed to wartime propaganda. He eventually returned to Europe and converted to Catholicism… but Tsuguharu Foujita’s name will always be bound up in our minds with Paris and those happy, tipsy years of movable feasts.