The Red Kimono, Torii Kotondo

Archive Label 2003: Torii Kotondo was adopted into the Torii family of print designers when he was fifteen and took over the eight generation family trade in 1941 as Torii Kiyotada the fifth. The family specialized in designs of kabuki playbills, posters, and actor prints. On the side, Kotondo painted bijinga (depictions of beautiful women) and, in 1927, he began designing bijinga prints. The Red Kimono depicts a graceful young woman seated casually on a mat on a hot summer day. She holds a fan with a snowy image of Mt. Fuji. Her feet are bare and she wears her subtly patterned red kimono in an alluring manner with the collar lowered at the back to reveal the nape of her neck. The reds of the kimono are set off by the stark white ‘well-pattern’ on her indigo kasuri sash. Baren marks, made as the baren (a disk made of bamboo leaves and lacquered paper) rubbed the print onto the block, add texture and interest to the empty space surrounding her. Exhibition Label: "Tradition and Modernity: Japanese Art of the Early Twentieth Century," Jan-2005, Hillary Pedersen Adopted into a family of famous printmakers, Torii Kontondo specialized in depictions of bijinga, or “beautiful women.” In this example, a graceful young woman is seated casually on a mat on a hot summer day. She holds a fan with a snowy image of Mount Fuji. Her feet are bare and she wears a subtly patterned red kimono in an alluring manner with the collar lowered at the back to reveal the nape of the neck. The stark white pattern on her indigo kasuri sash sets off the reds of the kimono. Baren marks, made as the baren (a lacquered paper disk wrapped in bamboo leaves) rubbed the paper onto the woodblock, add texture and interest to the empty space surrounding her.