Woman in Snow (Sagi musume), Taishô period,
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
$2,000–$15,000. Beauty prints by this artist are particularly sought after. Good bijin-ga: $4,000–$8,000. Key value factors: Kitano's sensuous Osaka-style bijin-ga have strong collector demand. His paintings command significantly higher prices.
This [oban](/glossary/oban)-format woodblock print presents the Sagi Musume (Heron Maiden) subject in its full wintry context, with the subtitle identifying the figure as a woman in snow. The Taisho-period dating places it among the earlier expressions of this theme in Tsunetomi's work. The kabuki Sagi Musume dance combines the visual drama of a white-costumed figure against falling snow with the pathos of a spirit who cannot sustain human form. Tsunetomi renders this subject with attention to the atmospheric conditions that define it: snow accumulating on the figure's robes, the cold clarity of winter light, and the isolation of a solitary dancer in an empty, white landscape. The [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) and snow-scene tags converge in a subject where feminine beauty and winter severity are inseparable, the heron maiden existing only within the snowfall that simultaneously reveals and destroys her.
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Yuki no Miyajima
1929
Color woodblock print; oban
1932
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Woman in Snow (Sagi musume), Taishô period, was created by Kitano Tsunetomi (北野恒富).
Woman in Snow (Sagi musume), Taishô period, was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Woman in Snow (Sagi musume), Taishô period, depicts snow scenes and bijin-ga.
