Three Figures

In 1913, not long after graduating from the Tokyo National University for Fine Arts and Music, Foujita moved to Paris. He became friends with many prominent French artists of the day, establishing himself by 1919 as a permanent member of the prestigious annual exhibition, the Salon d’Automne. This painting on paper was made during this pivotal period in Foujita’s career.

Like many Asian artists of the twentieth century, Foujita’s synthetic approach to visual representation—that is, combining and appropriating from a variety of regional and historical styles—became one of the important aspects of contemporary art throughout Asia. The bold use of rich blocks of heavy pigmentation and the gold foil background recall the style of nihonga, a term used for contemporary Japanese painting that drew inspiration from the past. Foujita’s thin, delicate lines that outline the faces and hands of the sylphlike women in the painting, part of his signature style, seems to derive largely from his western academic training.

The erotic atmosphere of these women at leisure and dance recalls the woodblock imagery of Ukiyo-e. The poised, lithe female figures refer also to a wide range of sources, from Persian miniature painting to Orthodox icons and folkloric sources popularized in the Paris performances of the Ballet Russe.