Kiyoshi Saito (1907-1997)

Born in Fukushima prefecture, Kiyoshi Saito began by designing signs for store fronts in 1924 and developed his work it into a successful business. His love of art inspired him to sell his business and move to Tokyo in 1932. There he studied Western-style painting at the Hongo Painting Institute. While exhibiting his oils, he begun making woodblock prints (Hanga) by cutting and printing progressively from a single block. By 1937 he focused on only making woodblock prints and in 1938 he produced the Winter in Aizu series depicting the area where he lived as a child. In 1943, he met Onchi, which led to membership in the Nihon Hanga Kyokai (Japanese woodblock association). At the end of the war he exhibited with Un-ichi Hiratsuka and Hide Kawanishe in Tokyo. It was at this exhibition that he sold his first print.

In 1948, he exhibited at the Salon Printemps, and in 1951 received first prize for Steady Gaze at the inaugural Sao Paolo Bienniale. This event brought the modern school of Japanese prints to prominence. Saito was featured in Statler's, Modern Japanese Print: An Art Reborn (1956), and visited the U.S. in 1956 under the auspices of the State Department and the Asia Foundation. From that year onward, Saito exhibited widely throughout the U.S. and Europe. In 1967 he made a woodblock print of Prime Minister Eisaku Sato for the cover of Time Magazine.

In his later years he moved on to figure subjects then to Buddist subjects and the building and culture of Kyoto, influenced by the works of Mondrian. Saito's prints, with their flat areas of color and solid textures were the result of his search for the essentials of nature.

Saito died in 1997 at the conclusion of a major retrospective in Tokyo at the Wako Department Store.

Kiyoshi Saito works are in numerous collections including:
Cincinnati Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, San Francisco; New York Public Library; Art Institute of Chicago; Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art; Kanagawa Prefectural Museum.

The works of Kiyoshi Saito: Limited Edition Woodblock prints

• Izu Japanese Woodblock Prints<
• Izu Snow Japanese Woodblock Print
• Snow Woodblock Prints
• Cat woodblock print
• Steady Gaze cats woodblock prints
• Kyoto woodblock prints

1   Total records found: 2

Buddha (6) (Sold)   Flower and a Girl (3) (Sold)

1

Artist Bio Index:

18th & 19th C. Artists:				Hiroshige Chikanobu Eisen Eizan Gakutei Hirosada Hiroshige II Hokusai Kunichika Kunisada Kuniyoshi Kyosai (Gyosai) Shunsho Toyokuni I Toyokuni III Yoshitoshi
20th C. Artists:				Bertha Lum Charles Bartlett Chiura Obata Clifton Karhu Cyrus Leroy Baldridge Elizabeth Keith Hajime Namiki Haku Maki Hashiguchi Goyo Helen Hyde Hiroshi Yoshida Ito Shinsui Joichi Hoshi Katsunori Hamanishi Kawase Hasui Kawase Hasui   (Posthumous) Kiyoshi Saito Koshiro Onchi Ohara Shoson   (Koson) Paul Jacoulet Ryohei Tanaka Sadao Watanabe Shigeki Kuroda Shinichi Nakazawa Shiro Kasamatsu Yamamoto Shoun Sugiura Tadashi Nakayama Takahashi Hiroaki   (Shotei) Toko Shinoda Tomoo Inagaki Toraji Ishikawa Torii Kotondo Toshi Yoshida Tsuchiya Koitsu Tsuruya Kokei Umetaro Azechi Unichi Hiratsuka Yoshitoshi Mori Yuji Hiratsuka
China Trade:				Auguste Borget Chinese School Edward Hildebrandt Thomas Allom William Alexander
Modern Originals:				Carol Jessen
Natural History:				J. James Audubon Mark Catesby John Gould
Antique Maps:				Conrad Lotter Gilles Robert Gerard de Jode Henricus Hondius Jan Huygen John Tallis Matthaeus Seutter Nicolas Sanson

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