Fragrance of the Hot Spring — 湯の香

Date:: 1930
Medium:: Drawing
Publisher:: Watanabe Shozaburo
Edition:: Published by Watanabe Shozaburo

Source:

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 nude or partially nude woman is suffused in the fragrant steam of a hot spring bath, the warmth rendered through soft gradations of warm color rising from below. The title Yu no Ka — "fragrance of the hot spring" — emphasizes the sensory fullness of the experience: not merely the sight of steam but its mineral scent, its enveloping warmth. This drawing represents Kotondo's rare explorations of the female nude, subjects he approached with the same quiet reverence he brought to his clothed bijin-ga.