Tsuguharu Foujita Value: Top Prices Paid at Auction

This surreal masterpiece achieved Foujita's current auction record when it sold at Bonhams London in October 2018, smashing its pre-sale high estimate of £1,300,000 by nearly 400%. The piece was created in New York in 1949, when Foujita was undergoing his artistic “rebirth” after World War II and before his permanent return to France. The work depicts a birthday party scene where family members have been replaced by a menagerie of animals, all gathered around a cake with candles. In the background, Foujita cleverly references his own work, hanging a charcoal study for one of his celebrated nudes on the wall. La Fête D'Anniversaire (1949) belongs to a series inspired by Jean de la Fontaine's fables, which perfectly suited Foujita's blend of Eastern and Western influences and penchant for anthropomorphic subject matter. The artist himself explained this choice as “a reaction to violent times, I conjured the sweetest of subjects, even childish subjects.” The airy, almost hazy, finish on the work was created by using extremely fine layers of glaze on a fine canvas surface reminiscent of Japanese porcelain and lacquer. Foujita clearly held this work in great esteem, creating a hand-carved frame for it - something he did for only select pieces - decorated with kitchen utensils. After appearing in Foujita's 1949 exhibition at Mathias Komor Gallery and his 1950 exhibition at Galerie Paul Pétrides in Paris, the painting remained in private hands for almost 70 years before its record-setting auction.

For nearly 28 years, this 1957 painting held Foujita's auction record after selling for $5.5 million in May 1990 at Christie's New York. It was created during Foujita's final creative period after he had received French citizenship in 1955, and exemplifies his post-war artistic direction. The painting, the title of which translates to “Young Girl in the Park”, reflects Foujita's return to the themes, such as childhood innocence and natural beauty, and techniques that had first brought him fame in 1920s Paris, but now filtered through his experiences of war and displacement. At the time, having permanently settled in France after years of travel and controversy surrounding his role as a war artist for Japan, Foujita was rebuilding his reputation and reconnecting with the European art world. The enduring value of this work between 1990 and 2018 testifies to Foujita's ability to create timeless imagery that transcends cultural boundaries while appealing to both Eastern and Western collectors.

Selling at Sotheby's Hong Kong in April 2016 for significantly above its HKD 20-30 million estimate, this 1930 masterpiece features Foujita's most commercially sought-after subject matter - the nude with cat. The piece was created during what many consider his creative peak during his first Paris period, and showcases his signature milky-white skin technique, “nyuhakushoku,” at its most refined. The technique involved layering a specific white ground (the exact specification of which he never revealed) to capture luminescent skin tones that shine against more muted backgrounds. This unique approach earned him enormous success and distinguished his work from his École de Paris contemporaries. This painting's impressive result in 2016 signalled a significant market resurgence for Foujita's work, particularly in the Asian art market, and coincided with major exhibitions in Japan. The sale helped catalyse renewed international interest in the artist, culminating in the record-breaking La Fête D'Anniversaire (1949) auction and major retrospectives at the Musée Maillol in Paris and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum - all two years later, in 2018.

This striking nude composition, featuring a small dog, sold at Christie's Hong Kong in December 2020 for more than twice its high estimate, demonstrating the continued strength of Foujita's market even during the global pandemic. While Foujita is perhaps best known for his cat paintings, his depictions of other animals, particularly dogs, also carry significant weight at auction, still emphasising his favourite themes of softness, innocence, and vulnerability. His training in traditional Japanese techniques allowed him to render fur and skin with exceptional precision and delicacy, creating an almost trompe l'oeil effect that makes viewers feel they could reach out and feel the texture. As with all of Foujita’s mature nudes, the skin of both the female subject and the fur of the dog is luminous, created by combining oil paint with touches of sumi ink applied using ultra-thin menso brushes renowned in Japan for their precision.

This childhood scene achieved its top 10 price at Christie's New York in November 1989, during what was then an early peak in Foujita's market driven largely by Japanese collectors during the economic bubble. It was a record at the time, but was surpassed a year later by Jeune Fille Dans Le Parc (1957). Following his permanent return to France in 1950, after his controversial period as a Japanese war artist, and subsequent acquisition of French citizenship in 1955, Foujita increasingly focused on reimagining Parisian street characters as children - creating fishmongers, beggars, and domestic scenes populated by youthful figures that allowed him to explore themes of innocence and renewal. These childhood scenes held particular poignancy for an artist who never had children of his own but maintained a lifelong fascination with the world of childhood. His studio on Rue Campagne-Première in Paris contained a collection of antique dolls in wax and porcelain that often served as inspiration for the little girls who populate his later canvases, which goes some way to explain their painted, delicate features.

This portrait of two young girls featuring, as the title suggests, the jacket of the artist himself, sold at iART, Tokyo. in July 2021. The inclusion of Foujita’s jacket, draped around the shoulders of the youngest girl, effectively ‘breaks the fourth wall,’ and draws the viewer further into the scene. After the trauma of the war years, during which Foujita produced hundreds of documentary war paintings for the Japanese government, his return to Paris marked a personal and artistic shift. He turned his brush to more peaceful subjects - historic streetscapes, childhood scenes, and innocent domesticity - perhaps driven by nostalgia for pre-war times. This piece is a perfect example of Foujita’s return to his signature style and high level of technical execution: meticulous linework created with traditional Japanese brushes, luminous skin tones achieved through his white glaze technique, and a delicate colour palette that evokes both European portraiture and Japanese ukiyo-e prints. Foujita once wrote: "I've always been drawn to 毛筆 (mohitsu, Japanese brushes). Even in Paris, I use them (with ink) more often than pens and pencils. I'm Japanese, so it's a natural thing to do."

This 1926 portrait, combining two of Foujita's signature subjects - a woman and a cat - achieved a strong result at Sotheby's Hong Kong in March 2019. The painting features Ghita, one of his many muses, with fashionable 1920s bob hairstyle, modernist clothing, and a sleeping cat on her lap - epitomising the sophisticated fusion of East and West that made Foujita so successful. This painting dates from a particularly productive and happy time in Foujita's personal and professional life. Having arrived in France in 1913, by the mid-1920s he was enjoying great commercial and critical success. His role within the School of Paris placed him alongside legendary figures including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Chaim Soutine, and his close friend Amedeo Modigliani. Despite this painting’s clear depiction of European 1920s trends, it still demonstrates Foujita’s dual cultural inspiration. Foujita, in his own words, felt “nostalgia for two countries,” something that is clear in the tumultuous path of his personal life and the juxtaposition of his artistic influences.

This elegant portrait of a young woman with a small dog sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong in October 2019. The subject’s hair, clothing, and pose are very typically fashionable at the time - something that can be said of much of Foujita’s work before he became a war painter. This ability to capture the fashion made him a sensation in Paris. After his groundbreaking debut at the 1922 Salon d'Automne with Nu Couché À La Toile De Jouy (1922), Foujita enjoyed a lucrative decade as one of Paris’ most sought-after artists. His distinctive personal style - featuring round glasses, bowl haircut, and facial hair inspired by Charlie Chaplin - made him an instantly recognisable figure in Montparnasse's artistic circles. This carefully crafted persona complemented his unique artistic approach, helping establish him as an exotic yet sophisticated presence in European modern art.

This nude from 1924 sold at Bonhams London in October 2019, depicting Foujita's lover and muse Lucie Badoul (nicknamed “Youki” meaning “rose-snow” for her pale skin). Her hands are folded against her chest in a Christian pose. Nu Aux Mains Croisées (1924) was created during a period of personal change and artistic success for Foujita. Having arrived in France with his first wife Tomiko Tokita, he divorced her for Fernande Barrey in 1917, whom he married just 13 days after their first meeting. However, their marriage became increasingly open, and in 1921 he began a relationship with Lucie Badoul, whom he married in 1924 - the same year this painting was created. The year 1924 was described by Youki herself as one of the happiest for the couple. In her memoirs, she wrote: “in 1924, life was easy, business flourishing and Foujita started to be known. We were in love with each other, we were good, and kind and happy of everything.” The couple became celebrities in Montparnasse's vibrant social scene, known for their extravagant parties and bohemian lifestyle.

This nude portrait sold at Bonhams London in October 2022, after remaining within private collections since its creation in 1929. The work is perhaps one of the most extreme examples of Foujita’s characteristic luminescent, nyuhakushoku, treatment of skin, creating an ethereal glow that subtly distinguishes the subject from her backdrop. As art historian Masaaki Ozaki noted: “Foujita acknowledges that he was inspired by ukiyo-e in portraying his nudes. He says he tried to depict the human skin in the way Utamaro Kitagawa and Harunobu Suzuki had done.” While many of Foujita's most celebrated nudes featured his wife, Youki (Lucie Badoul), this particular work depicts a different model, Jacqueline Barsotti-Goddard, one of the key female models of the École de Paris and the favourite subject of Surrealist photographer, Man Ray. The strong price achieved by this work, one of his more recent sales, is testament to the continued collector enthusiasm for Foujita's work, which so harmoniously merged Japanese aesthetics with Western figurative traditions.