Tsuguharu Foujita (1886–1968)
Cat Drinking Milk - Foujita 1929
Tsuguharu Foujita was one of the most distinctive artists of the early twentieth century, a man who moved effortlessly between cultures and who left behind some of the most unforgettable images of cats in modern art. Born in Tokyo in 1886, he trained in the traditional Nihonga style before leaving for Paris in 1913. There, in Montparnasse, he became part of the circle of Modigliani, Picasso, Soutine, and Léger. Foujita stood out not only for his trademark bowl haircut and round glasses, but for his unique fusion of East and West.
His paintings and drawings are instantly recognisable: milky white grounds laid down with casein and ink, over which he traced the finest lines, as delicate as Japanese calligraphy. While he painted nudes, portraits, and religious works, it is his cats that have secured his place in the hearts of collectors. From languid sleeping kittens to mischievous tabbies and alert street cats, Foujita gave his feline subjects individuality, humour, and grace.
In 1930, the New York publisher Covici Friede issued A Book of Cats, illustrated with twenty collotypes on Japanese vellum. Printed in only 500 copies, it quickly became legendary — often described as “the most desirable book on cats ever published.” Each copy was signed by Foujita, and a small number of individual plates were additionally signed in pencil, making them especially rare today.
Foujita’s career stretched far beyond cats: he returned to Japan during the war years, later converted to Catholicism in France, and ended his life as Léonard Foujita, buried in Reims. Yet across all these transformations, his cats remain constant — a testament to his ability to capture, in the flick of a whisker or the tilt of a head, the mystery of companionship between human and animal.
A Word from Foujita:
“On me prédisait que je serais le premier peintre du Japon, mais c’était le premier peintre de Paris que je rêvais d’être. Il me fallait retourner aux sources. À peine revenu de chez Picasso, je suis entré chez moi et j’ai jeté par terre toutes mes couleurs et mon matériel de peinture. Nous n’étions qu’au second jour de mon arrivée à Paris et déjà je tentais d’oublier toutes les techniques que j’avais apprises au Japon, de comment tenir sa palette à la manière de laver les pinceaux . La plupart des artistes, comme Matisse, Braque, peignaient avec une brosse large. Contrairement à eux, je me suis mis à peindre avec un pinceau fin. Tout le monde utilisait beaucoup de couleurs superbes. Mais j'ai cherché à peindre légèrement, et en noir et blanc.
“I was told I would be the first painter in Japan, but it was the first painter in Paris that I dreamed of being. I had to go back to my roots. As soon as I got back from Picasso's, I went home and threw all my paints and painting materials on the floor. It was only my second day in Paris, and already I was trying to forget all the techniques I had learned in Japan, from how to hold a palette to how to wash brushes. Most artists, like Matisse and Braque, painted with a broad brush. Unlike them, I started painting with a fine brush. Everyone used a lot of superb colors. But I tried to paint lightly, and in black and white.”