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Foujita at La Scala
by Vittoria Crespi Morbio.
Essay by Vittoria Crespi Morbio, Le leggi della grazia / The Laws of Grace.
Appendices: biographical notice; catalogue of the works; chronology of stage designs.
Collection «Performing Artists at La Scala».
Amici della Scala – Umberto Allemandi & C., Turin 2003.
Italian edition, pp.68.
A Japanese who became a symbol of Paris, friend of Modigliani, Apollinaire, Picasso, protagonist of the “Années folles” of Montparnasse, Foujita (Edogama 1886–Zurich 1968) passionately experienced an exoticism in reverse.
With his nudes and still lifes in which the human figure often appears, he paid his tribute to the West that had fascinated and welcomed him, then returning to the great legacy of Japanese art in the last period of his life.
The sets and costumes for Madama Butterfly performed at La Scala in 1951 belong to this late period: a masterpiece reflecting the artist’s entire artistic vision, as yet never studied and published.