Léonard Foujita was the toast of the art world but vanished from view in the 1930s. A new show returns him to the public gaze

Fifty years ago, while French youth were simmering with anger and dreaming big, one of the greatest artists of Montparnasse discreetly passed away. The painter, who died as a French Catholic named Léonard Foujita, had been born 81 years earlier as Tsuguharu Foujita, the son of a general in Japan’s imperial army.

This year, celebrations marking the anniversary of his death, organised in Paris, Reims, Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, hope to bring him back from obscurity. For Foujita was one of the most successful artists of the 1920s, worshipped by the critics and art lovers who paid a fortune for his drawings, watercolours and oil paintings. As Paris’s shining art star, he was more successful than Picasso and more acclaimed than Matisse. Now he is the subject of a major exhibition at the Maillol Museum which focuses on the artist’s most prolific period, between 1913 and 1931.

Brought up in a family open to western culture, Foujita was given French lessons from an early age. After studying western art at Tokyo’s fine arts school, he completed his training with a trip to Paris. Arriving on 6 August 1913, he knew immediately that he wouldn’t be returning home any time soon. That day, the Chilean painter Manuel Ortiz de Zárate, intrigued by Foujita’s distinctive and elegant look, introduced himself and the two became friends.

The following day, Zárate took him to Picasso’s studio. There, in front of Picasso’s paintings and his collection of Le Douanier, Henri Rousseau, Foujita felt electrified.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chiens savants, 1922. Photograph: © Fondation Foujita/Adagp, Paris, 2018

Too old to enrol in a second graduate course at the Beaux-Arts, he signed up as a copyist at the Louvre. Transfixed by antiquities and their stylised beauty, Foujita quickly realised he needed to adapt his vision, either in opposition to, or in conciliation with, western art. He chose hybridisation, a path that no other Japanese artist had dared take before. His unique style immediately fascinated both public and critics.

His first solo exhibition, in June 1917 at Gallery Chéron, near the Champs-Élysées, was a triumph. His 110 watercolours sold out instantly.

Picasso, who was among the first visitors and stayed for hours, left with as many canvases as he could afford and carry. To meet the high demand, Chéron, his dealer, who was also representing Modigliani and Soutine, asked him to produce two watercolours a day.

Foujita had two secrets. The first one was called Fernande Barrey, a 24-year-old prostitute-turned-model who posed for Modigliani. He married her 13 days after meeting her at Café de la Rotonde on Boulevard du Montparnasse. The second was a thin brush, black and white paints, and a white glaze, the recipe for which he kept secret for years.

Made of mixed flaxseed oil, crushed chalk or white lead, and magnesium silicate, it was unheard of in the west and gave his paintings a hypnotic, milky iridescence that fascinated viewers. His work stood in marked contrast to that of Matisse and Braque, who used large brushes and bright colours.

Above all things, Foujita loved painting cats and naked women. Kiki de Montparnasse posed for him, and so did a new love, Lucie, barely 20 whom he also met at La Rotonde. Her skin was so white that he nicknamed her Youki – snow in Japanese.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Youki, 1923 Photograph: © Fondation Foujita / Adagp, Paris, 2018

By the 1920s, Foujita was being exhibited and sold worldwide. Extravagance ruled. At Youki’s birthday, the artist gave her a convertible car with a radiator cap made of a small bronze by Rodin. Hugely successful, he spent all his money.

Foujita found his look early: a short bowl haircut and small round glasses. He added to his celebrity status by drawing and making costumes that landed him in gossip columns and fashion magazines. He photographed and filmed himself as he worked. A great painter, he was also, unconsciously perhaps, building a brand. Increasingly, the artist became overshadowed by the dandy. In self-portraits, Foujita always appeared composed and inscrutable, but what did he really think of the avatar he had created?

Youki had now become the mistress of his best friend, the poet Robert Desnos; and France’s tax department started demanding huge sums, which the famous painter had forgotten to save. Having reached an impasse, Foujita escaped with a young model called Madeleine to South America. This is the point at which the exhibition at the Maillol Museum ends – but the story didn’t stop there, of course.

From South America, he returned to Japan in 1933, becoming an official painter for the imperial army. He lent his talent to his country’s propaganda efforts throughout the second world war. However, protected by General MacArthur and rich American art collectors, he was allowed to return discreetly to Paris in 1950, accompanied by Kimiyo, his Japanese fifth wife.

They settled in Montparnasse and led a quiet life. Foujita obtained French nationality in 1955 and converted to Catholicism, choosing the name of Léonard, as a tribute to Da Vinci. Forgiven and restored to the west, Foujita was finally buried in Reims, like a French king.

Foujita, Painting in the Roaring 20s, is at the Maillol Museum, Paris, until 15 July