Live Auction 23053Prints and Multiples
LÉONARD TSUGUHARU FOUJITA (1886-1968)
Lot 109

LÉONARD TSUGUHARU FOUJITA (1886-1968)

Book of Cats

Closed16 April 2024

Price Realised

USD 18,900

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LÉONARD TSUGUHARU FOUJITA (1886-1968)
Foujita, L.
Book of Cats
the artist's book of twenty etchings, on Arches paper, 1930, signed in pencil by the artist on the justification page, number 390 of 500, published by Covici Friede, New York, with the title, justification and text pages with poems by Michael Joseph, bound (as issued), with full margins, in generally good condition, together with the original red cloth book cover with silver text, lacking the additional suite of collotypes on Japon paper
Overall: 13 1/8 x 10 1/8 x 5/8 in. (333 x 257 x 15 mm.)

Specialist note

Book of Cats is Foujita’s most beloved work and is "certainly one of the rarest and most desired books on cats in existence" (Sam Kalda, Of Cats and Men, 2017, p. 43). Born and educated in Tokyo, Foujita emigrated to Paris where he became a leading member of the French avant-garde; a friend of Picasso and Modigliani, he counted Kiki de Montparnasse among his models. The languid etchings of felines in this work, accompanied by the prose-poetry of Michael Joseph, exemplify the signature hybrid Japanese-European style which earned him great acclaim.