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In 1913, Fujita traveled to Paris to compete on the world stage. In the 1920s, young painters of the “Ecole de Paris” (Paris School ) gathered in the Montmartre and Montparnasse neighborhoods of Paris and engaged in creative activities. Many of them came from Jewish families in other countries, with gentiles from Russia and Eastern Europe forming the core of the group. For example, Fujita’s close friend Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was from a wealthy Jewish family in northern Italy.
The young painters were influenced by Cubism, which Pablo Picasso launched with Georges Braque and which was gaining momentum in Paris at the time, but they did not follow any particular school, style, or principle. They created their own unique style, relying on their nationality, culture, ideology, and other backgrounds. Fujita, who moved to France in 1913, became a member of this group and strove to create works that only he could paint.
After moving to France, Fujita tried his hand at various motifs, drawing inspiration from the styles of Picasso, Henri Rousseau, and Modigliani, and in 1917, he signed a contract with the Galerie Cheron, giving him a chance to make a name for himself. Like Fujita, other painters found art dealers and patrons, and in the 1920s, the members of the Ecole de Paris enjoyed a remarkable period of activity.
However, the turmoil caused by the Great Depression of 1929 and the rise of fascism dealt a blow to this core group of Jewish painters. A succession of exiles and homecomings effectively brought the “Ecole de Paris” to an end.
This exhibition will examine Fujita’s progress during his time at the Ecole de Paris, where he strove to establish his own style, despite the twists and turns, through works from the period when his name became increasingly well known, including “Two Girls” (1918) and “The Gate on the Edge of Town” (1918), the “milky skin” works that made him famous, and oil paintings created in parallel with these works. We will follow Fujita’s progress during his time at the Ecole de Paris, where he strove to establish his own style, and consider his originality.
