There's a good reason that the artists given the moniker the Ecole de Paris were called a "school" -- in the early 20th century they had flocked from all over the World to Paris to learn the styles, techniques, and attitudes that had put the French capital at the cutting edge of art.
The most famous among the Japanese contingent was Tsuguharu "Leonard" Foujita (1886-1968), whose art is enjoying its first comprehensive retrospective in Japan at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo till May 21. According to exhibition curator Mika Kuraya, Foujita's motivations were different than other Japanese painters.
"Most of them were trying to master some techniques so they could return home to become painters in Japan," she says. "Foujita's ambition was to become famous in Paris."