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 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.
Mutsu Tsuta onsen
1919
Color woodblock print; oban
1943
Color woodblock print
Autumn 1920
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
1924
Color woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
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.
