Long Undergarment
長襦袢
by Ito Shinsui
- Date:
- 1921
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
Typical Price
The flowing lines of a long undergarment offered Shinsui an opportunity to display his extraordinary skill with fabric and drape. Early Watanabe editions sell for $3,000-$9,000, while later printings range from $1,200-$3,500. Compositional simplicity and tonal restraint make this a sophisticated example of less-is-more bijin-ga design.
Description
A woman stands wearing a long undergarment (nagajuban) beneath a partially open outer kimono. The translucent quality of the inner garment and the rich pattern of the outer robe create an interplay of concealment and revelation that is central to the aesthetics of Japanese dress and of bijin-ga as a genre.
