Paul Binnie After the Bath

Paul Binnie “After the Bath” artwork
My newest bijin-ga print, the second in my current series, has just been completed and is available just in time for Christmas. Furo Agari (After the Bath), shows a young woman in a boldly checked blue yukata (cotton kimono) sitting on the tatami mats near a paper-screened window, and is from the Tou Nishiki Bijin Awase (Collection of Eastern Brocade Beauties) set. The background of this design is printed in goma-zuri technique (lit. sesame printing) to give a soft and broken effect, acting as a quiet foil to the saturated colour of the yukata, and the obi or sash is printed in the same way. There is also mica and 22-carat gold leaf on the obi, and, as in the first design from the series, my surname is blind-printed in the bottom margin. I have again used Iwano Ichibei VII paper, and the edition number is 100 as before. The price will be the same as Cho Musubi (Butterfly Bow), the first Tou Nishiki design, and many of you will know that I had a great success with that piece in the annual CWAJ exhibition in Tokyo in , so I hope Furo Agari will attract the same attention. Like that design, and in fact all the prints from this series, certain elements of the design escape into the borders, such as the fingertips and her little mauve tabi, or bifurcated socks.
Paul Binnie,
Artist
Paul Binnie
Title
After the Bath
Japanese title
Furo agari 風呂あがり
Series title
A Collection of Eastern Brocade Beauties
Japanese series title
Azuma nishiki bijin awase 東錦美人合
Date
Medium
Colour woodblock print on paper
Paper dimensions (h × w)
43 × 30.5 cm
Image dimensions (h × w)
38 × 28 cm
Edition size
100
Carver
Paul Binnie
Printer
Paul Binnie
Subjects
Beautiful Women (Bijin 美人)
Remarks
The kimono pattern is from Shinsui Ito Gifu Paper Lantern
The background is printed goma-zuri (speckled).
References
Van den Ing, E (ed.) , Paul Binnie: A Dialogue with the Past, Art Media Resources, Chicago, p. 134
Catalogue number
98 (L213)
Supplementary images