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 nagajuban in the private act of dressing. The July 1929 date places this in Kotondo's most concentrated productive period, when he was issuing woodblock prints with a regularity that would not last. The underrobe subject — the garment between skin and outer kimono — offered Kotondo a vehicle for exploring partial undress and the intimate rituals of feminine self-preparation, subjects he approached with sensitivity and without sensationalism.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Long Underrobe was created by Torii Kotondo (鳥居言人) in 7/1929.
Long Underrobe was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (7/1929).
Long Underrobe depicts figures, bijin-ga, and interiors.
