Woman in Red-Orange Under-Kimono

Woman in Red-Orange Under-Kimono is a Taisho-era woodblock that focuses on the garment layer usually hidden beneath the outer robe. The under-kimono, or juban, is visible only at the collar and sleeves in formal dress, making a print that features it prominently an act of undressing, the outer layers removed to reveal the vivid red-orange beneath. Tobari's sosaku-hanga approach gives this intimate subject a directness free from the coy conventions of commercial bijin-ga. The bold color of the under-kimono dominates the composition, its warmth radiating outward from the figure and asserting the beauty of what is usually concealed.