Classical Nudes as a Sign of Modernity? The Drawings of the Japanese Parisian Foujita in the Collection of the National Gallery in Prague
Abstract
In the collections of the National Gallery in Prague are two drawings by Tsuguharu Foujita, a French painter of Japanese origin. These are two female nudes drawn in pencil and ink on paper, which served as the central scene of a large decorative painting entitled "The Arrival of Westerners in Japan" intended for the main hall of the Japanese House in Paris.
They came into the collections of the then Modern Gallery as part of a gift from the Japanese patron Jirohachi Satsuma following his visit to Prague in 1935 and the organization of an exhibition of Japanese art at the Krasoumná Jednota. The generous donation included works by artists of traditional Japanese painting as well as contemporary artists, among whom Foujita was particularly popular.
He became friends with many painters of the "Paris School" at Montparnasse and became one of the most sought-after Japanese painters in France. Not surprisingly, he received a prestigious commission to decorate the Japanese House founded and financed by Satsuma in the newly emerging university city of Paris.