Collection: Leonard Foujita   1886 - 1968 

Foujita, born Tsuguharu Fujita in 1886, graduated from what is now the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music at the age of 24 and moved to Paris three years later. Taking a studio in Montparnasse, he soon rose to fame both for his artistic achievements and his eccentricities. Nicknamed Fou-Fou (literally Mad-Mad in French) Foujita, with his large gold earrings, fringed haircut and tattooed wristwatch, became an icon of the Roaring Twenties.

A friend of many avant-garde artists including Modigliani, Leger, Picasso and Matisse, his style was nonetheless his own, combining Japanese ink techniques with Western-style painting. He was particularly well-known for his images of cats and naked women with 'milk-white skin'. By 1925 he was awarded state honours by both France and Belgium. Later, he was very successful in Latin America. He died in 1968.