Standing Figure of a Woman

Dated to circa 1715, this o-oban sumizuri-e depicts a single standing female figure, rendered entirely in black ink without hand coloring. The print belongs to the bijin-ga (beautiful-women) tradition that ran in parallel to the Torii school's theatrical work, though Kiyomasu I's treatment retains the bold linear vocabulary characteristic of his actor portraits. The woman wears the layered robes of fashionable Edo dress, with her sash tied in a high bow and her hair arranged in the elaborate styles of the early eighteenth century. The composition rests entirely on contour and textile patterning, demonstrating how much expressive range Kiyomasu I could achieve within the constraints of a single-color print. The Art Institute of Chicago preserves this work as an example of the artist's range beyond strictly theatrical subjects.