Monday 19 April 2010

Kiyoshi Saitō

Woodblock prints by Kiyoshi Saitō (1907-1997), a Japanese artist associated with the sōsaku hanga ('creative prints') movement. From a biography at the Verne Gallery:

"Kiyoshi Saito emerged as Japan's most productive woodblock print artist, whose editions soon found worldwide markets. Sosaku Hanga artists were, however, first dismissed in the Japanese art world and their works were considered concessions to American tastes.

"This abruptly changed however in 1951 at the first Sao Paulo Art Biennial, when a panel of judges gave prizes not to distinguished artists for oil paintings and sculptures but rather to two Hanga artists: for the etchings of Tetsuro Komai as well as to Kiyoshi Saito for a wood block print. The Japanese art world was shocked."

Images found here, there and everywhere. There are a couple more in this previous post.

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