Saitō Kiyoshi, Illusion of the Sea, 1950, color woodblock print, 17 1/2 x 27 in., In memory of Helen Juda, acquired with funds provided by Mrs. Harry Lenart, Eileen F. Singer, Museum Associates, and the Far Eastern Art Council.

Saitō Kiyoshi (1907-1997)
Shock to the Japanese art system

In a single stroke, Saitō Kiyoshi brought respect to the art of printmaking within the Japanese art establishment. In 1951, at the Saõ Paulo biennale, the shipment of Japanese art arrived late and was presented altogether, with no overlaid hierarchy to distinguish the perceived "importance" of various media. Saitō won first prize at the show for a print called "Steady Gaze," taking the top prize yet again at the Llubljana biennale in 1956.

Americans in Japan during the postwar occupation favored prints by sōsaku-hanga (creative print) artists, who—in contrast to the traditional print system, whereby technical specialists divided the labor of design, cutting, coloring and distribution of prints—did their own designing, block-cutting, coloring and, in many cases, display for sale. Saitō rose to the top among these artists in popularity, remaining there until his death in 1997.

Saitō's bold, self-produced early works call upon many sources: childhood in the snow country of northern Japan, with its landscape of visual contrast; his artistic beginnings as a teenager in business as a sign-painter; his study of oil painting during his twenties and love for texture, line, and planes of color in the works of Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch; and later, his appreciation for the geometric nature of Japanese architecture, and the interpretation of geometry in the paintings of Piet Mondrian.

Saitō Kiyoshi: Mid-Century Print Master is an installation on display in the Pavilion for Japanese Art through May 29, 2007.