Make-up

A woman at her toilette applies cosmetics or powders her face, the act of self-preparation rendered as a quiet scene of absorption. Kotondo's 1930 color woodblock prints are among his most technically accomplished, demonstrating his ability to build luminous surfaces through multiple applications of transparent pigment. The makeup subject recurs across his small oeuvre in slight variations, each capturing a different posture of self-examination, a different quality of intimate attention.