Private Collection, France Then by descent to the present owner
Catalogue Essay
Les deux amies (The two friends) is the preparatory drawing for a painting currently in a private collection. The softly-executed precise drawing represents two female nudes seated in opposite directions, joining their gaze towards the right while gently resting their arms onto each other’s neck. Foujita offers a beautiful allegory of friendship which exudes tenderness and harmony. The subject matter is recurring in his work from the 1920s, with an emblematic yin-yang duality emphasized by the contrasting hairs of the two models. Les deux amies seems to have collected Foujita’s particular appreciation as he then decides to reproduce the composition into an etching with aquatint (edition of 100) as part of the famous 6-compositions series ‘Les Femmes’ (Women) representing the same two models in different poses