3/26/2023 0 Comments Print saito osamu moku hanga![]() In 1956, Saitō was sponsored by the State Department and the Asia Foundation to travel and exhibit around the United States and Europe. It was the first international prize for a Japanese artist after the Second World War. In 1950 at the Sao Paulo Biennale, his work Steady Gaze (Flower) won the Japanese Ancestry in Sao Paulo Prize. In 1948, Saitō exhibited at the Salon Printemps, an event sponsored by Americans for Japanese Artists. He then drew a finalized panoramic view that he divided into several prints to create a series. In the first stages of print production, Saitō created a pencil sketch of the area he wished to depict. Rather than depicting something for how it looks in real life, Saitō was interested in the reduced shapes, muted and unexpected colors, and the core essence of his subjects and settings. ![]() His began to show prints with bold, simple, flat and solid areas of color and texture. Saitō’s prints developed over the course of his artistic career. His series of Persimmon in Aizu, Harvest in Aizu, Houses in Aizu and others are also well-known. ![]() In 1938, Saitō issued his first prints in his now famous Winter in Aizu series, scenes of nature and architecture set in his hometown in Aizu, Fukishima. Also through his acquaintance with Onchi, Saitō was exposed to galleries where American purchasers began to take an interest in his work. They gathered once a month to discuss their prints. In the same year, Saitō met other renowned artists such as Umetaro Azechi (1902-1999) and Gen Yamaguchi (1896-1976) through artist Kōshirō Onchi’s (1891-1950) Ichimokukai (First Thursday Society). This exposure influenced Saitō to make woodblock his primary medium. Saitō mainly worked with oil paint until his invitation from fellow woodblock print artist, Tadashige Ono (1909-1990), to join the Zokei Hanga Kyōkai (Plastic Print Association) in 1938. In 1936, Saitō began experimenting with woodblock prints and exhibiting works with Nihon Hanga Kyōkai (Japanese Creative Print Association). Later this type of wood became scarce, so during the last 20 years he worked with shina nuki (a type of plywood). Early in his career, Saitō used katsura wood ordered from Hokkaido - one of Japan’s islands and echizen hosho (mulberry paper) that he special-ordered from a paper dealer in the Fukui Prefecture. Saitō was a sōsaku hanga (creative print) artist, meaning his work was self-drawn, self-carved and self-printed - an artistic process practiced by many modern Japanese artists as a collective departure from traditional publishing houses, which utilized a division of creative and labor art practices. He is also known for his depictions of women adorning elaborate traditional Japanese kimono fashions, maiko dancers, images of animals, haniwa burial figures, shrines in Kamakura, and imagery inspired by travels in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe. Saitō’s work portrays images of traditional Japanese landscapes and rural architecture. As a result, Saitō incorporated elements of modernism, cubism, abstract expressionism, and impressionism in his work. However, in his early adulthood, the emerging artist was exposed to the works of European modernist painters like Munch, Mondrian, Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky, and Gaugin. Saitō’s initial artwork was characterized by a focus on realism and three-dimensionality. ![]() In 1932, Saitō moved to Tokyo to study Western-style painting at the Hongo Painting Institute. By the time he was twenty, Saitō established his own successful sign-painting business. At just five years old, he apprenticed as a sign-painter in Hokkaido, Otaru and studied drawing with artist Gyokusen Narita. Kiyoshi Saitō was born in Aizubange, Japan on April 27, 1907. Kiyoshi Saitō (斉藤清, Japan, 1907-1997) is a Japanese modernist printmaker known for producing prints with a distinct, graphic flatness. ![]() Size: 15 1/4" h x 10" w (image) + margins.Ĭondition: Good overall. The isolated grey background allows the subject to sit alone without the need to define setting or occasion. This perspective leaves the viewer with the opportunity to truly appreciate the intricacy of the traditional hikizuri (kimono), as well as the darari obi, while adding a sense of intrigue and vulnerability to the subject. This specific work depicts the view of a Maiko from behind. The maiko's job in traditional Japan was to entertain guests by serving tea, singing, dancing and playing the shamisen, which is a traditional 3 stringed musical instrument. A maiko is the term for an apprentice geisha typically used in Kyoto and Western Japan. This is a beautiful interpretation of a maiko in her traditional dress. Sosaku hanga Japanese woodblock print depicting a seated Maiko with intricate features of her beautiful kimono. ![]()
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