Ancient City, Nara

Artist/Culture SAITO Kiyoshi (Japanese, 1907–1997)

Date1957

MediumWoodblock print; ink and color on paper

Dimensionssheet: 41 x 52 cm (16 1/8 x 20 1/2 in.)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift of Mrs. David J. Milliken

Terms

Object number2006.523

Label TextSaito was a Western-style oil painter, raised in rural Hokkaido. His self-taught, experimental woodblock-printing skills gradually brought him fame as a print artist. In 1943, while working at Asahi Newspaper Company in Tokyo, Saito met Onchi Koshiro and was invited to attend monthly gatherings held at the master's house and to join the Japan Print Association. In 1951 a print by Saito received first prize at the Sao Paolo Biennale in Brazil, an achievement that awakened the Japanese art establishment and brought prominence to Japan's Creative Print Movement. An admirer of the expressive works of munch and Gauguin as well as the abstract works of Onchi and Mondrian, Saito rendered gardens and architecture with an interplay of bold, flat shapes filled with austere, textured colors. Several printings of the same color achieved depth of tone, while plywood-blocks faced with different types of special woods created varying "grain-printing" effects. In the late 1940s and 50s, Americans traveling to Japan were enchanted by Saito's prints which they felt captured the essence of their own experiences of Japanese temples and streets. Capturing the mysterious atmosphere of the ancient capital Nara at night, this print shows a cat heading from an alley towards the gateway and grounds of a Shinto temple.ProvenanceMrs. David J. Milliken, Worcester, MA

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