Karuizawa Ando Museum of Art Exhibition Room 5
(Left) "Wedding" (1950, oil on canvas)
(Center) Nude on a Canopy (1954, oil on canvas)
(Right) Young Woman Holding a Cat (1956, oil on canvas)
Exhibition Overview
This exhibition will focus on the various animals that Tsuguharu Foujita painted, including cats, which appear frequently in his works, and explore their charms. Please enjoy our collection while taking note of the various expressions and gestures of cats and animals, including Nude on Canopy (1954, oil on canvas), which is being shown for the first time at our museum, featuring an adorable cat sleeping behind a nude woman.
Cat Exhibition Room 5 by Fujita
For Foujita, cats were both friends and subjects of his paintings. He started living with cats soon after moving to France. In Paris, he picked up a cat that had been clinging to his leg and brought it home with him. From then on, Foujita began painting cats as a familiar subject. In the 1920s, Foujita included cats in his nude sculptures, and also depicted them in his repeated self-portraits. The sight of the cat snuggling up to Foujita was like a companion. In this way, cats became an iconic presence that symbolized Foujita, along with his bob haircut and Lloyd glasses.
In 1929, Foujita's cats broke away from their previous supporting role. A collection of prints, "Ten Forms of Cats," featuring cats in cute poses, was published by Apollo in Paris, using a mixed technique of drypoint, etching, and colors similar to the "milky white background." In 1930, Kovici-Freed & Co. in New York published "The Book of Cats," a collection of prints featuring 21 of Foujita's unique cats, with soft, fluffy fur, along with poems by British poet Michael Joseph. Joseph gave names to all the cats, which gave the cats Foujita drew even more individuality.
Published in the United States in 1950, Night and Cats is a beautiful and fantastical picture book in which Fujita contributed drawings of sleeping cats to poems about cats written by novelist and poet Elizabeth Coatsworth. Around this time, Fujita began to categorize his drawings of cats, and in Night and Cats, cats with round, round eyes decorate the pages. In Cat's Classroom (1949, oil on canvas), an anthropomorphized cat teacher and her students appear, depicting a lively classroom with children behaving freely. Although the children are all unique and have different expressions, there is a certain pattern to the way they are drawn. Just as the girls Fujita drew from the 1950s onwards were "imaginary children," the cats may have been idealized images created by Fujita after observing cats for many years.
Various animals that live close to people's livesExhibition Room 2 & 3
In addition to cats, which Fujita called "friends" and loved, the exhibition will also focus on works depicting other animals. Fujita painted animals that were close to people. Please enjoy Fujita's warm gaze on animals and his unique worldview through these works.
Cat Exhibition Room 5 by Fujita
For Foujita, cats were both friends and subjects of his paintings. He started living with cats soon after moving to France. In Paris, he picked up a cat that had been clinging to his leg and brought it home with him. From then on, Foujita began painting cats as a familiar subject. In the 1920s, Foujita included cats in his nude sculptures, and also depicted them in his repeated self-portraits. The sight of the cat snuggling up to Foujita was like a companion. In this way, cats became an iconic presence that symbolized Foujita, along with his bob haircut and Lloyd glasses.
In 1929, Foujita's cats broke away from their previous supporting role. A collection of prints, "Ten Forms of Cats," featuring cats in cute poses, was published by Apollo in Paris, using a mixed technique of drypoint, etching, and colors similar to the "milky white background." In 1930, Kovici-Freed & Co. in New York published "The Book of Cats," a collection of prints featuring 21 of Foujita's unique cats, with soft, fluffy fur, along with poems by British poet Michael Joseph. Joseph gave names to all the cats, which gave the cats Foujita drew even more individuality.
Published in the United States in 1950, Night and Cats is a beautiful and fantastical picture book in which Fujita contributed drawings of sleeping cats to poems about cats written by novelist and poet Elizabeth Coatsworth. Around this time, Fujita began to categorize his drawings of cats, and in Night and Cats, cats with round, round eyes decorate the pages. In Cat's Classroom (1949, oil on canvas), an anthropomorphized cat teacher and her students appear, depicting a lively classroom with children behaving freely. Although the children are all unique and have different expressions, there is a certain pattern to the way they are drawn. Just as the girls Fujita drew from the 1950s onwards were "imaginary children," the cats may have been idealized images created by Fujita after observing cats for many years.
Various animals that live close to people's livesExhibition Room 2 & 3
In addition to cats, which Fujita called "friends" and loved, the exhibition will also focus on works depicting other animals. Fujita painted animals that were close to people. Please enjoy Fujita's warm gaze on animals and his unique worldview through these works.
Highlights of the Exhibition
Cats, cats, cats!! We're showcasing all the artwork featuring cats!
Artwork image: "Wedding" (1950, oil on canvas)
Find the Cat! First public exhibit of "Nude on a Canopy" and more
Work image: "Nude on a Canopy" (1954, oil on canvas)
Fujita not only loved cats, but also dogs!
Work image: Pekingese (1925, watercolor, ink on paper)
Don't miss the various animals that Fujita has drawn!
Image of the work: "Dream" (1957, lithograph (heriogravure and aquatint combined) on paper)
Concurrent Events
Special exhibition: "Illustrated book "Shijuusuzume" by Tsuguharu Foujita and Jean Cocteau"
Period: Thursday, March 6, 2025 to Tuesday, July 22, 2025 Venue: Special Exhibition Room
"Chickadees" (Pierre de Tartas, published in 1963) is a limited edition book with a numbered edition that combines the text of French intellectual Jean Cocteau with 21 lithographs by Fujita. This is the second collaboration between the two men, who are deeply close friends, following "Sea Dragon" (Georges Guillot, published in 1955), which describes Cocteau's trip to Japan in 1936. The title of this work, which depicts children based on traditional French occupations and customs, is "Chickadees." The chickadee is said to be a bird that symbolizes freedom, liberation, and hope, and Cocteau may have given it this title to reflect the social climate of the time, which was developing into the student movement. Cocteau also states in the preface that "Like Lewis Carroll, it seems that Fujita is searching for a mirror image in the world of children that will change the way adults think." Adorable children depicted alongside everyday French scenery. What meaning is there in them?
Period: Thursday, March 6, 2025 to Tuesday, July 22, 2025 Venue: Special Exhibition Room
"Chickadees" (Pierre de Tartas, published in 1963) is a limited edition book with a numbered edition that combines the text of French intellectual Jean Cocteau with 21 lithographs by Fujita. This is the second collaboration between the two men, who are deeply close friends, following "Sea Dragon" (Georges Guillot, published in 1955), which describes Cocteau's trip to Japan in 1936. The title of this work, which depicts children based on traditional French occupations and customs, is "Chickadees." The chickadee is said to be a bird that symbolizes freedom, liberation, and hope, and Cocteau may have given it this title to reflect the social climate of the time, which was developing into the student movement. Cocteau also states in the preface that "Like Lewis Carroll, it seems that Fujita is searching for a mirror image in the world of children that will change the way adults think." Adorable children depicted alongside everyday French scenery. What meaning is there in them?