Nara (A)

The telephone phone pole at viewer's left pegs this scene as belonging to the 20th century.

There is no hint of sound in its greyed appearance.

Last two photos show front of print unframed as well as back of frame unframed.

(1907-1997) Oliver Statler's Modern Japanese Prints: An Art Reborn published in 1959 references Saito, as does Who's Who in Modern Japanese Prints (1975).

A leading artist associated with the Japanese sosaku hanga movement, Kiyoshi Saito continues to be highly collected.  An acquaintance of Koshiro Onchi, another artist well known for his participation in the same movement, Saito persevered in an initial climate of disapproval by the art collecting public in Japan. However, in 1951 at the first Sao Paolo Art Biennial, the tide was turned when judges chose to honor two Hanga artists, Saito and Ketsuro Komai.

From that point on Saito was treated with more respect. The demand for his work steadily increased year by year.  His palette was muted. Often Saito emphasized the grain of the woodblock in his prints. His motifs included landscapes, buildings, portraits, still lifes, animals and plants of many types.

His work can be found in permanent collections in Japan, Australia, Israel, Canada as well as in the United States (Cincinnati Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, Denver Art Museum, New York Public Library as well as the Art Institute of Chicago).