Description

Twentieth-century Japanese printmakers often exploit the
grain of the woodblock to create striated patterns within
the work. Saito, like his mentors Edvard Munch and Paul
Gauguin before him, incorporated into the image the texture
inherent in the woodblock. Saito reduced form to simple, flat
shapes, achieving abstracted, strong compositions printed in
only a few muted earth tones.

Saito was the first modern Japanese printmaker to win an
award abroad at the First Biennial Exhibition of the Modern
Art Museum in Saõ Paulo, Brazil, in 1951. This international
recognition helped to establish the legitimacy of the
sosaku-hanga printmaking movement.