Fine Weather in Early-summer

Date:: May 1936
Medium:: Woodblock printed book page, ink and color on paper
Format:: Oban
Dimensions:: 18.1 × 12.1 cm
Publisher:: Watanabe Shozaburo
Edition:: Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
Source:: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Typical Price

Kotondo is best known for bijin-ga, but his complete oeuvre includes actor prints and other figure subjects. His small corpus of only 21 designs ensures that all authenticated period impressions carry collector interest and scarcity premiums.

Later impressions or related works: $500–$2,000
Original period works: $2,000–$8,000
Finest examples: $8,000–$20,000

Description

A woman is depicted in the bright weather of early summer, likely outdoors or near an open window, the light falling with the particular clarity of the season. Printed as a book page, the composition adapts Kotondo's bijin-ga sensibility to a more intimate format, maintaining his characteristic attention to the delicate relationship between a woman's form and the quality of light that surrounds her. The summer atmosphere is conveyed through restraint rather than abundance.