Spring Special Exhibition: Tsuguharu Foujita: The Ecole de Paris Era 1918-1928
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(Center) Two Girls, 1918, oil on canvas; (Left) Nude with Arms Raised, 1924, oil on canvas; (Right) Gate at the Outskirts, 1918, oil on canvas
Exhibition Overview
Tsuguharu Foujita, who traveled to France in 1913, explored various styles until the 1920s, when his "milky ground" took Europe by storm. His work shows his unwavering determination to succeed as a Japanese artist, as well as the influence of the artists around him, who valued a free style of painting.
This exhibition, entitled "Tsuguharu Foujita: The Ecole de Paris Era 1918-1928," will introduce how the style of the 1910s and 1920s was created. Please take your time to enjoy Foujita's early works, in which he continued to challenge himself to establish his own style, along with works from our museum collection.
Lecture: "Expressing the Texture of Milky Skin" June 16, 2024 (Sun)
Lecturer: Hiroyuki Uchiro (Chief Curator, Pola Museum of Art)
For details and how to apply, click here
This exhibition, entitled "Tsuguharu Foujita: The Ecole de Paris Era 1918-1928," will introduce how the style of the 1910s and 1920s was created. Please take your time to enjoy Foujita's early works, in which he continued to challenge himself to establish his own style, along with works from our museum collection.
Lecture: "Expressing the Texture of Milky Skin" June 16, 2024 (Sun)
Lecturer: Hiroyuki Uchiro (Chief Curator, Pola Museum of Art)
For details and how to apply, click here
Introduction of exhibited works
This exhibition will focus on Fujita's early works, which he produced while searching for his own unique style, from his trip to France in 1913 to the completion of his "Milky Ground."
- "Gate on the Outskirts" 1918, oil on canvas
- Fujita focused on painting Parisian landscapes between 1917 and 1918. His paintings were not of the so-called well-known historical sites, but of quiet outskirts, as the title of this painting suggests.
The deserted landscape of the city outskirts was a theme that Henri Rousseau tackled from the 1890s. Rousseau was a popular author among the École de Paris, and although Fujita never met Rousseau in person, he had many opportunities to see his works. The influence of Rousseau can be seen here and there in this work, such as in the motifs and melancholy colors.
Exhibition room: Exhibition room 2 (Green room)
- Two Girls, 1918, oil on canvas
First public showing - This work was created in August 1918 in a town near Avignon. The blonde and black-haired girls, sitting on chairs holding a doll and a posy flower in their hands and gazing straight at the viewer, have a similar composition and gaze to "Two Girls" painted by Modigliani in the same year. The 1910s was a time when Fujita was searching for originality under the influence of Picasso, Modigliani, Rousseau, and others, and this work can be said to be one of the works from his younger days that symbolizes that. This work will be shown for the first time in this exhibition.
Exhibition room: Exhibition room 2 (Green room)
- Woman with a Vase, 1920, oil on canvas
- Since his second wife Ferdinand was a devout Catholic, many of Fujita's early works were religious in nature. In 1918, he visited the south of France, near Avignon, where the Papacy once stood, and was exposed to medieval religious art, which also inspired him to create works. On the other hand, his style also shows the influence of Modigliani, who is famous for his simplified female figures.
Exhibition room: Exhibition room 2 (Green room)
- Nude with Arms Raised, 1924, oil on canvas
- Foujita's nudes, which caused a sensation at the Salon d'Automne in 1921, were called "wonderful milky white grounds" and continued to take Europe by storm. It is said that Foujita achieved "unprecedented success" by incorporating elements of Japanese painting into the established Western technique of oil painting.
This nude, created in 1924, is a valuable work that is painted in the same composition as the second woman from the left in Foujita's masterpiece "Five Nudes" (owned by the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo), which was exhibited at the 16th Salon d'Automne the previous year.
Exhibition room: Exhibition room 2 (Green room)
- Children Playing with a Dog, 1924, ink, oil on silk
- In the 1920s, while Fujita was making a name for himself with his "milky white grounds," he also enthusiastically produced works in a style reminiscent of Japanese painting. One of these is "Children Playing with a Dog."
Although it is an oil painting, the style is reminiscent of Yamato-e painting, and one can sense Fujita's determination to continue taking on new challenges as a Japanese person.
Exhibit room: Exhibit room 3 (yellow room)
*Due to copyright restrictions, some images are posted at a small size of 32,400px or less.
