In honor of the 120th anniversary of his birth, this famous modern painter and engraver's works are in a traveling exhibition:
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto: May 30 - July 23, 2006
Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum: August 3 - October 9, 2006

Tsuguharu Foujita was born in Tokyo, graduated from the Tokyo Art School where he had been trained under Kuroda Seiki who had sudied in Paris. Three years after graducation he too went to Paris, then on to Montparnasse, where he soon met and became friends with the aritists of the day: Gris, Picasso, Matisse, Soutine, Modigliani, Pascin, Leger.

Foujita's first studio was at 5, rue Delambre in the center of Montparnasse.

He was the talk of the town when he was the first to install a bathtub with running water. The models of Paris 'invaded' his studio to enjoy this luxury. He was greatly attracted to women and throughout his life had several wives, whom he loved dearly - each one - at the time.

By 1918 he became famous for a painter of beautiful women and cats. At the time he was one of the few Montparnasse artists who made a great deal of money while still young. People were attracted to the unuaually white skin on his women. The painting that brought him to the attention of the art community was his nude painting of Kiki - all ivory on an ivory bed.

During the 1930s Foujita traveled and painted in Brazil, Argentina, and other Latinn American spots. In the mid 30s he was welcomed back as a star in Japan, where he stayed until 1939.

His las major work was the decoration of a chapel in Reims, France, completed just 2 years before his death of cancer on January 29, 1968.

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