Kiyoshi Saito (Japanese, 1907-1997), untitled Sosaku woodblock print (houses and woman vendor on street), ca. mid 20th century CE. Signed in black under artist's red seal in image. Saito was a sosaku hanga artist, hence his compositions were self-drawn, self-carved, and self-printed. While his early works demonstrate Saito’s keen attention to realism and three-dimensionality, in time his style evolved, and his style became more flat and two-dimensional, presenting bold designs with strong color and refined texture that aligned with the mid-century modern aesthetic as we see in this example. Size: 10.125" L x 14.875" W (25.7 cm x 37.8 cm); 15.875" L x 20.625" W (40.3 cm x 52.4 cm) with mat and frame

Born in Fukushima prefecture, Kiyoshi Saito, moved to Otaru in Hokkaido at age 5, where he became an apprentice to a sign painter. He eventually studied drawing with Gyokusen Narita and moved to Tokyo to study Western-style painting at the Hongo Painting Institute in 1932. Saito then started working with the woodblock printing technique, and in 1936 exhibited his works with Nihon Hanga Kyokai. Saito primarily practiced oil painting until Tadashige Ono invited him to join the Zokei Hanga Kyokai in 1938. This was a turning point for the artist, when he elected to make the woodblock print his main medium. In 1943, he worked with the Asahi Newspaper Company, where he met Koshiro Onchi which led to an invitation to Ichimokukai as well as membership to Nihon Hanga Kyokai in 1944.

World War II interrupted Saito’s printmaking career. Interestingly, he sold his first print at an exhibition with artists Un’ichi Hiratsuka and Hide Kawanishi during the occupation. Following the war, Saito exhibited at the 1948 Salon Printemps which was sponsored by Americans for Japanese Artists. At the 1951 Biennale of Sao Paulo, Saito won first place for his print entitled “Steady Gaze”. This was the first time in Japanese history that prints overtook painting in a competition – rustling feathers in the Japanese art establishment. In 1956, the State Department and the Asia Foundation sponsored Saito to travel and exhibit throughout the United States and Europe.

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

Provenance: private Orange County, California, USA collection acquired before 2000

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#131107

Woodblock appears in good condition, not examined out of the frame. A few scuffs to the frame, but nicely done with textured mat, and wired for suspension on verso.