Steam
- Date:
- October 1929
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Edition:
- Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
Description
A woman bends forward to rinse her hair or bathe, rising steam curling upward through the composition. Kotondo renders the heat of the bathwater through soft bokashi gradients, the warm moisture almost tangible against the cool paper. The subject belongs to Kotondo's celebrated series of women in private ablutions — vulnerable, unhurried moments that the artist approached with a painter's sensitivity to atmosphere and skin.
More Prints by Torii Kotondo
More Nude Prints
Tsuta Hot Springs in Mutsu Province (Mutsu Tsuta onsen), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, First Series (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"
Mutsu Tsuta onsen
1919
Color woodblock print; oban
Namari Spa, Iwate Prefecture (Iwate ken Namari onsen)
1943
Color woodblock print
Autumn at the Arayu Hot Spring, Shiobara
Autumn 1920
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Arifuku Spa, Iwami, from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series" (Tabi miyage dai sanshu, Iwami Arifuku onsen)
1924
Color woodblock print
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Steam was created by Torii Kotondo (鳥居言人) in October 1929.
Steam uses Bokashi, on woodblock print.
Steam was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (October 1929).
Steam depicts nude, bijin-ga, and daily life.