Galleries - July 2016

JULY 2016 GALLERIES 53 Aktis Gallery specialises in the work of émigré artists who went to early 20th century Paris. Like much of the art that they represent, the cover image for the Aktis exhibition of inter-war Parisian works on paper is simultaneously familiar, beautiful and impassive. It features an assortment of pink and yellow tulips with slightly stylised petals and leaves, and long delicate stems snaking up a dark blue ground. The high detail and light shading give it the aspect of a botanical illustration, but the manipulation of the forms have a distinctly Asian quality. The work has a place at the exhibition because it is by the Japanese-French artist Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968), who was one of the oldest School of Paris members and a friend of Braque, Picasso and Rousseau. Aktis’ exhibition runs from 1 to 31 July as part of London Art Week, a celebration of ‘pre- contemporary’ art in the galleries of Mayfair and St James’s, to show some of their best to the thronging summer crowds. For Aktis, exhibiting Foujita alongside Le Corbusier, Otto Freundlich and Auguste Herbin is a chance to demonstrate his power, even alongside his better known counterparts, as an artist at home both with European modernism and a traditionally Japanese aesthetic – as well as Paris itself. Frances Allitt CODA Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita ‘Les Tulipes’1920 watercolour and ink on paper qeb=jfiifkbov=tlohp=prjjbo=pelt káÅÜçä~ë _çêÇÉåI=p~ê~Ü=`~ïâïÉää a~îáÇ bÇãçåÇI==j~êÅ=dççÇÉêÜ~ã bäáò~ÄÉíÜ=e~áåÉëI=`Éêá=eçìëÉ== mÉíÉê=jÉëëÉêI=kÉëëáÉ=o~ãã gç~å pí~åíçåI=dáäÉë=táåíÉê ^ Å~í~äçÖìÉ=ïáää=ÄÉ=çå=äáåÉ=~í ïïïKãáääáåÉêóïçêâëKÅçKìâ qìÉ=J=p~í=NN~ã=J=Séã=============== pìå=NO=J=Réã qeb=jfiifkbov=tlohp=iqa URLUT=plrqed^qb=ol^aI== fpifkdqlkI=ilkalk=kN=Pgp qbiW=MOM=TPRV=OMNV=c^uW=MOM=TPRV=RTVO= bã~áäW=~êí]ãáääáåÉêóïçêâëKÅçKìâ NO=gìäó=íç=OU=^ìÖìëí=OMNS= ^å ÉñÜáÄáíáçå=çÑ=é~áåíáåÖëI=Çê~ïáåÖë=~åÇ=ëÅìäéíìêÉ=Äó=NM=çÑ=çìê=ÄÉëí=~êíáëíë