KIYOSHI SAITO

27 April 1907, Fukushima - 14 November 1997, Tokyo, Japan

Very young boy he lived in the Island of Hokkaido where is father worked in the coal mines in Otarn.

At the age of 13 he lost his mother and was sent to live in a buddhist temple.

When he had the chance to leave that life, and dreaming to be an artist, he went to Tokyo. There he learned the techniques of woodblock printing.

He worked also as an illustrator for newspapers and also as a commercial graphic designer.

He won the prize for a woodblock print at the São Paulo Biennale in 1951.

Today he is considered one of the great masters of the modern Japanese printmaking.

The simplicity of his works is simply beauty.

"Child in Aizu with butterflies"

"Snow covering the rural houses in Aizu"

"Christmas card", 1952