Born in Fukushima prefecture, Kiyoshi Saito began by designing signs for store fronts in 1924 and developed his work into a successful business. His love of art inspired him to sell his business and move to Tokyo in 1932. There he studied Western-sty...

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Born in Fukushima prefecture, Kiyoshi Saito began by designing signs for store fronts in 1924 and developed his work into a successful business. His love of art inspired him to sell his business and move to Tokyo in 1932. There he studied Western-style painting at the Hongo Painting Institute. While exhibiting his oils, he began making woodblock prints by cutting and printing progressively from a single block. He also produced works in collograph, dry point, and color and ink paintings. By 1937 he focused on only making woodblock prints and in 1938 he produced the Winter in Aizu series depicting the area where he lived as a child. In his later years he moved on to figure subjects then to Buddhist subjects and the building and culture of Kyoto. Saito's prints, with their flat areas of color and solid textures were the result of his search for the essentials of nature.