Fifteen works spanning six decades by Leonard Tsuguharu Foujita, timed to the artist’s 140th birth anniversary, lead Sotheby’s first dedicated single-artist Foujita sale in Asia on September 28.

Hong Kong — September 2026 — Sotheby’s presents The Foujita Lexicon: Works from the Lewis Collection on September 28 at Sotheby’s Maison, Hong Kong, offering 15 works by Leonard Tsuguharu Foujita spanning six decades. The aggregate pre-sale estimate is HK$17.8 million-26.5 million (approximately US$2.3 million-3.45 million). The sale marks Sotheby’s first dedicated single-artist auction for Foujita in Asia, timed to the 140th anniversary of the artist’s birth.

Born in Tokyo in 1886, Foujita trained at the Tokyo National University of the Arts before settling in Paris in 1913, where he became a central figure of the Ecole de Paris. His signature milky white backgrounds and sinuous contour lines, combining Western oil technique with Japanese brushwork tradition, made him one of the most recognizable and collected artists of the interwar period.

The sale’s leading work, Le reve (Hommage a La Fontaine), an oil and ink on canvas from 1949, is estimated at HK$4,000,000-6,000,000 (approximately US$520,000-780,000). Two works from the late 1920s and early 1930s, Chatte et chaton (oil, pen and ink on canvas, 1932) and Nu assoupi sur la table (oil on canvas, 1927), are each estimated at HK$2,000,000-3,000,000 (approximately US$260,000-390,000). The 1924 self-portrait Mon portrait, rendered in watercolour, pen and ink on silk, is estimated at HK$800,000-1,200,000 (approximately US$104,000-156,000). Madeleine endormie (pen and ink, ink wash and watercolour on paper, 1933) is estimated at HK$300,000-500,000 (approximately US$39,000-65,000).

For further information and bidding access, visit sothebys.com.

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