318 - Fujita Tsuguharu (Léonard Foujita) (1886-1968) Léonard Foujita, a painting entitled "Cat" A Japanese-born French painter and sculptor. Born Fujita Tsuguharu, he was naturalised as a French citizen in 1955. In 1959 he was baptised Léonard at Reims Cathedral. He is known as Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita.

Fujita Tsuguharu (Léonard Foujita) (1886-1968) Léonard Foujita, a painting entitled "Cat" A Japanese-born French painter and sculptor. Born Fujita Tsuguharu, he was naturalised as a French citizen in 1955. In 1959 he was baptised Léonard at Reims Cathedral. He is known as Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita. Active in Paris from before the First World War, he favoured cats and women as his principal subjects. While incorporating techniques of Japanese painting into oil painting, his nudes — rendered in his signature “milky white skin” — won great acclaim in the Western art world. He is a leading figure of the École de Paris. The present work bears the signature “北平” (Beiping) and “Foujita 1934.” Though it appears to be an unassuming picture of a cat, it is in fact a work of real documentary interest. The year before this painting was made, Foujita had returned from South America, and from mid-November of that year he travelled for about a month in China. While the details of the journey are not known, it gave rise to a series of works depicting Chinese customs — sumo wrestlers and marketplaces — shown the following year, in 1935. The “Beiping” in the signature refers to Beijing, the name used for the city from 1928 to 1937, making this an intriguing signature that records the shifting name of China’s capital at the time. Using fine lines drawn with a mensōfude (a fine-tipped brush for facial detail), Foujita rendered the cat’s sharply extending whiskers, delicately shading even the fine hairs inside its ears and the texture of its fur, and captured in its glinting golden eyes both the wildness and the charm characteristic of the animal. © Fondation Foujita / ADAGP, Paris & JASPAR, Tokyo, 2026 G4473 L: 27.5cm W: 21.6cm / framed / paper Authentication certificate：Accompanied by a certificate of authentication issued by the Appraisal Committee of the Toobi Art Authentication and Appraisal Organization, a general incorporated foundation. Japan, 1934