KOTONDO -- Leaving the Bath House (#2)

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Artist TORII Kotondo (1900-76)
Title "Leaving the Bath House"
("Yu-gaeri")
Date 1933 (Later limited edition of 100 prints, c1980's)
Provenance Found in small Tokyo book/print shop.
Series na
Publisher Ishukankokai Publisher
Seal, Carver/Printer Koike Shigeru/Watanabe Yoshiaki; watermarked.
Image Size 10 1/4 x 16 1/8
Impression Fine. Nicelyly executed "bokashi" (gradation of colors) shading to face, hand and bowl; light "gauffrage" to kimono's pattern; strong "baren-sujizuri" (circles) to brown background; nicely over-printed hairlines.
Condition Excellent. (Flawless--still in original "presentation folder.")
Reference/Illus "The Female Image," Plate #183-1 (brown-background state). Blair's 1936 "Toledo Exhibition," Plate #137.
Comments A young beauty is seen as she leaves through the entrance curtains of a public bath house. Amoung Kotondo's lifetime total 21 images (most 1927-33). Re-strike published as small/immediately sold out edition (100 copies) in the mid-1980's by Ishukankokai Publisher of Tokyo (with red "moneybag" seal).
Item # JS-1978
Price $1150