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• He participated in the movement sōsaku hanga (creative print), initiated by a group of Western-trained artists in Japan in the 1900s. Their goal was to promote woodblock printmaking as fine art.
• During the American Occupation of Japan between 1945 and 1951, Saitō was one of the leading sōsaku hanga artists. His prints were popular among American print collectors, and he regularly participated in American-sponsored exhibitions.
• In 1951, his woodblock print Steady Gaze received first place in the São Paulo Brazil International Biennial Exhibition.
• In 1956, the United States Department of State and the Asia Foundation invited Saitō to the United States and Mexico to teach printmaking and present exhibitions of his work.
• Saitō received a commission to create a woodblock print of Prime Minister Eisaku Satō for the front cover of Time Magazine in 1967.
• In 1987, Saitō was awarded Japan’s Fourth Class Order of the Sacred Treasure.
• In 1995, the Japanese government named him a Person of Cultural Merit.
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for Kiyoshi Saito
Kiyoshi Saito
Japan, 1907 - 1997
• He participated in the movement sōsaku hanga (creative print), initiated by a group of Western-trained artists in Japan in the 1900s. Their goal was to promote woodblock printmaking as fine art.
• During the American Occupation of Japan between 1945 and 1951, Saitō was one of the leading sōsaku hanga artists. His prints were popular among American print collectors, and he regularly participated in American-sponsored exhibitions.
• In 1951, his woodblock print Steady Gaze received first place in the São Paulo Brazil International Biennial Exhibition.
• In 1956, the United States Department of State and the Asia Foundation invited Saitō to the United States and Mexico to teach printmaking and present exhibitions of his work.
• Saitō received a commission to create a woodblock print of Prime Minister Eisaku Satō for the front cover of Time Magazine in 1967.
• In 1987, Saitō was awarded Japan’s Fourth Class Order of the Sacred Treasure.
• In 1995, the Japanese government named him a Person of Cultural Merit.
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- Kiyoshi Saito
Bibliography
United States, 1904 - 1972
United States, born Ukraine, 1899 - 1988
