Details

This charming and instantly recognizable composition presents a self-portrait of the renowned Japanese-French artist Tsuguharu Foujita, accompanied by one of his beloved cats—a frequent and emblematic presence in his personal mythology. Rendered with an unmistakable blend of modernist line work and classical Japanese technique, the print distills Foujita’s unique artistic voice: one rooted in Nihonga discipline and animated by the expressive clarity of early 20th-century European modernism.

Here, Foujita appears in crisp profile, donning round spectacles and a high-buttoned shirt, holding a brush poised at his temple in a moment of thoughtful self-observation. Behind him, nestled over his shoulder, a wide-eyed cat stares out at the viewer, animated and alert. The feline’s presence is more than ornamental—it is Foujita’s familiar, his spiritual double, rendered with the same graphic precision and anthropomorphic charm that made his cat imagery internationally iconic.

Connoisseur's Note

Tsuguharu Foujita produced a wide array of self-portraits throughout his long and cosmopolitan career, working across media including oil painting, ink drawing, and printmaking. These introspective works serve not only as studies of personal identity, but as testaments to his shifting cultural affiliations—between East and West, tradition and modernity. Few artists navigated these dualities with Foujita’s grace.

The inclusion of the cat—frequent muse and metaphor—adds warmth, humor, and an added layer of symbolism. In Japanese folklore and Buddhist aesthetics alike, cats often occupy liminal spaces between domestic intimacy and spiritual otherness. Foujita, with his characteristic blend of irreverence and refinement, elevates the animal to a co-equal subject, embodying both companionship and mystery.

This print is a superb example of Foujita’s ability to harmonize Eastern woodblock traditions with the expressive vocabulary of Western portraiture. Its clean lines, muted palette, and disarming intimacy offer collectors not only a glimpse into the artist’s world, but into his soul—a fusion of eccentricity, elegance, and artistic self-awareness.