Author: TSUGUHARU FOUJITA 藤田嗣治
Size: 27.5×22.5cm
Signed and dated: Circa in 1950s
Estimate:
Final Price: RMB 3,400,000
signed in English
REMARK
1.On December 5th， 2017， when Sylvie Buisson， the research expert of Tsuguharu Foujita， saw a group of paintings of Foujita’s for the first time， he was fascinated. Those works were directly purchased from Foujita by a collector， and were never shown to the public. Girl with Bird was included in the group of works， Sylvie Buisson highly praised it. In his opinion， these works have the most representative style of “portrait of girl” by Foujita. Each work is extremely exquisite and delicate， the smooth lines reflect the writing of Oriental Art， and its sophistication is comparable to Japanese flower arrangement.
2.This work is authored and signed by Sylvie Buisson， president of Union Française des Experts （UFE ） Issue Number：D58.130 H.
During his whole life， Tsuguharu Fujita went back to Japan in 1929， 1933， and 1940. After leaving Japan in 1949， Tsuguharu never returned to Japan any more. He then stayed in his second hometown Paris since the following year. In the 1960s， Paris was replaced by New York， was no longer the global art center.
After returning to Paris， children， especially girls， became the most important subject of his paintings. Compared with his earlier works， girls he painted in this period demonstrated explicit features， such as wide foreheads， large eyes， small mouths and noses， and seemingly identical faces. Tsuguharu wrote， “The children in my paintings are not from real life. I am also a child and I have no child. Children in my paintings are my son， my daughter， my favorite children.” It is obvious that these children in the paintings are a perfect reflection of the artist’s dream. In real life， Tsuguharu was addicted to make various clothes for his dolls， putting them in order on his bed， and take photos of them. In this paintings， he also drew well-designed suits for girls， just like how he dressed up for himself when he was young. Sometimes walking with his friends on the streets of Paris in ancient Greece tunicle， or participating balls with Gigi dressing as a woman. Paris was a stage for him.
In 1960， Tsuguharu decided to move to Villiers-le-Bâcle in the suburbs of Paris， where he bought an old 18th century grange， he spent one year on its renovation to turn it into a residence with a studio. The time living in the grange is the last turning point of Tsuguharu’s whole life， which means his farewell to his hometown and a beginning his seclusion. As he stated， “I gradually felt nothing is better than living alone. I hear no noise and I own every second. This is my current state and also my dream. I want to leave Paris and live in this remote village by myself. I am not abandoning the world but just staying away from it.”
Tsuguharu was regarded as an oriental in France while a westerner in Japan. But such kind of Oriental-Western opposition is not black and white to him as he claimed “My body grows up in Japan while my paintings were created in France. I am rooted in Japan， but my friends are in France. I am an international citizen， both Japan and France are my hometowns and I love both.” In 1968， Tsuguharu died in the State Hospital， in Zurich， Switzerland. He lived a vagrant life suffering the pains of wars， and just like the stranger portrayed by Baudelaire， he sought after evanescent clouds and expressed his endless homesickness in his paintings.
