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.
A woman adjusts her long undergarment, the July date marking this as a summer subject — the thin silk of the nagajuban appropriate to the heat. The composition invites the viewer into a domestic interior at an unhurried moment, a woman between states of dress who has paused to adjust what lies closest to her skin. Kotondo treats such subjects without voyeurism, approaching the female figure with the quiet attentiveness of a portraitist whose subject happens to be undressed.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Long Undergarments was created by Torii Kotondo (鳥居言人) in July 1929.
Long Undergarments was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (July 1929).
Long Undergarments depicts figures, bijin-ga, and summer.
