Léonard Foujita

About Tsuguharu Foujita

The Japanese painter most beloved in Paris

Tsuguharu Foujita (Leonard Foujita 1886-1968)

Born in Tokyo in the middle of the Meiji era, Fujita graduated from Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts) and went to France at the age of 26 with the ambition of becoming a painter. After much trial and error, he established his own style of painting, and his nude works with a "milky white background," which later became his trademark, swept the European art world in the 1920s, and he quickly became the favorite of the École de Paris. During World War II, he produced war documentary paintings in Japan. After experiencing setbacks after being held responsible for the war, he returned to France and continued to paint energetically in his later years while living a peaceful life as the Frenchman Léonard Foujita. He died in 1968 at the age of 81 and was buried in the Chapel of Our Lady of Peace (Fujita Chapel) in Reims, which he built himself. This chapel was conceived and designed by Fujita himself, and is famous for its murals (frescoes) painted by him.