Editing Tsuguharu Foujita (section)

=== Artistic development and success: 1917-1930 ===
[[File:Portrait of Fujita Tsuguharu - 1926-1927 - Nakayama Iwata.png|thumb|left|Portrait of Foujita, 1926-1927, by Nakayama Iwata]]
Fernande was instrumental in the artist's first professional success in Paris. A few weeks after marrying Foujita, she showed the art dealer Georges Chéron some of Foujita's drawings. Chéron went to Foujita's studio and bought all the works he was shown.{{sfn|Franck|2001|p=[https://archive.org/details/bohemianparispic00fran/page/267 267]}} She also secured an arrangement between Foujita and the Galerie Chéron, where he had his first solo exhibitions.{{sfn|Lamia|2018|p=138}} His first solo show, in which he presented 110 of his water colors, was a great success.{{sfn|Birnbaum|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/gloryinlinelifeo00birn/page/85–86]}} The artist began exhibiting more frequently in Paris and in 1920 became a member of the [[Salon d'Automne]].{{sfn|Buisson|Buisson|1987|p=91}} 

This success coincided with the arrival of the [[Roaring Twenties]] in Paris, a time of relative economic prosperity that fueled a strong art market and thriving nightlife. Foujita was a regular at popular clubs and events, immediately recognizable thanks to his signature bowl-cut and round glasses.

Foujita's production in the early 1920s began to concentrate into three distinct genres: self portraits, interior scenes (including many still lives), and nudes. There was great interest in Foujita's style, which was often perceived as marrying "Eastern" and "Western" elements in an original manner.{{sfn|Buisson|Buisson|1987|p=56}}

Japanese artists in Paris who practiced Western-style painting were generally described by contemporary critics as simple copyists, or, in the words of André Warnod, "wanting to be European at all costs".<ref name=":3">Sophie Krebs, "À travers un cristal étrange. Foujita et la France", dans ''Foujita. Oeuvres d'une vie,'' exh. cat., Paris, Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris, 2019, p.36-49.</ref>{{Rp|page=38}} Yet, Foujita was deemed the exception to this rule. Warnod states that Foujita "knew how to look with his own eyes and paint according to his temperament, without worrying too much about others": compared to other Japanese painters, Foujita was seen as having "personality".<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=39}} Art historian Asato Ikeda has argued that "in contrast to other Japanese artists in the city, Fujita [targeted] his paintings to French audiences by successfully negotiating the artistic heritage of his country and making something original from the perspective of European art history".<ref name=":4">Asato Ikeda, ''The Politics of Painting. Fascism and Japanese Art during the Second World War,'' Honolulu, University of Hawai'i Press, 2018.</ref>{{Rp|page=88}}

[[File:Iwata Nakayama – Kiki de Montparnasse and Foujita in Paris, 1926.jpg|thumb|[[Alice Prin|Kiki de Montparnasse]] and Tsuguharu Foujita, Paris, 1926, by [[Iwata Nakayama]]]]

Foujita's works in the late 1910s incorporated a blend of styles. From the beginning of his stay in Paris, Foujita took advantage of his proximity to the [[Louvre]] to study artists such as [[Raphael]], [[Rembrandt]], and [[Leonardo da Vinci]].<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=40}} In 1917, Foujita began drawing figures in a highly stylized manner, often in profile, which appear to draw on both medieval primitive painting, as well as Amadeo Modigliani's simplified portraits. The artist, heavily inspired by Italian painting, also depicted Christian themes like the [[Madonna (art)|Virgin and Child]] and the [[Crucifixion of Jesus|Crucifixion of Christ.]] These themes would soon disappear from Foujita's oeuvre, but they later dominated his artistic production from 1951 onwards.

His works were appreciated as the harmonious meeting of Japanese and European aesthetics.{{sfn|Kaneko|2014|p=30}} One such painting, ''Reclining Nude with [[Toile de Jouy]]'', for which French model [[Alice Prin|Kiki de Montparnasse]] posed, was met with great success at the 1922 [[Salon d'Automne]].{{sfnm|Franck|2001|1p=[https://archive.org/details/bohemianparispic00fran/page/294 294]|Klüver|1989|p=[https://archive.org/details/kikisparisartist0000kluv/page/97 97]}} This work referenced the classical genre of the nude, as well as more recent French examples like [[Édouard Manet|Edouard Manet]]'s ''Olympia''. He drew inspiration from ''[[ukiyo-e]]'' artists such as [[Suzuki Harunobu]] and [[Utamaro|Kitagawa Utamaro]], who left their female figures' skin uncolored,<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=89}}  though he painted the Black artists' model and performer [[Aïcha Goblet]] in a more Cubist style.{{sfn|Fabre|2007}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aicha , 1914–1914 |url=https://www.artnet.com/artists/l%C3%A9onard-tsuguharu-foujita/aicha-m2JuA-4u2Gsj8nsbTpZrEA2 |access-date=2024-09-19 |website=www.artnet.com}}</ref> Foujita wrote that the objective of his nudes was to "represent the quality of the most beautiful material there is: that of human skin".{{sfn|Birnbaum|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/gloryinlinelifeo00birn/page/6 6]}}

Foujita received an important Parisian commission in the late 1920s that showcased his capacity to create in the Japanese artistic tradition. Painted at the Cercle de l'Union Interalliée, an exclusive social and dining club, it features two ''kachō-ga'', or bird and flower painting panels created in a ''[[yamato-e]]'' style.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=89}}

In 1922, Foujita met Lucie Badoul,{{sfb|Klüver|1989|p=[https://archive.org/details/kikisparisartist0000kluv/page/101 101]}} who he called "Youki", the Japanese word for "snow", and she became one of his models.{{sfn|Bonhams|2020}} In 1924, he divorced Fernande,{{sfn|Ikeda|2018|p=[{{Google books|id=CgzPDwAAQBAJ |pg=PA86|plainurl=yes}} 86]}} and in 1929, he married Youki.{{sfn|Conley|2003|p=[{{Google books|id=tXbp2S2myfIC|pg=PA73|plainurl=yes}} 73]}} Around the time of his marriage to Youki, Foujita was having serious financial woes. He had been living a luxurious life of celebrity in Paris but he had not been paying taxes since 1925. Now, the tax authorities caught up with him and demanded full payment.{{sfn|Birnbaum|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/gloryinlinelifeo00birn/page/141 141]}} Foujita left for Japan with Youki, hoping he might be able to recoup his losses by exhibiting there.{{sfn|Selz|1981|p=76}} Foujita's reception in Japan was mixed. The general public packed his first one-man show there, and his works sold well, but the critics panned him as a mediocre artist imitating Western style.{{sfn|Birnbaum|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/gloryinlinelifeo00birn/page/142 142]–[https://archive.org/details/gloryinlinelifeo00birn/page/143 143]}} Foujita returned to France via the United States, travelling to Hawai'i, San Francisco, and New York. While in New York, he learned about the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|Wall Street Crash]].{{sfn|Selz|1981|p=78}} He once again briefly returned to New York to organize a one-man exhibition at the Paul Reinhardt Gallery, but the show was not successful.{{sfn|Selz|1981|p=78}}