Bunraku (A), Shôwa period, dated 1959
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Harvard Art Museums
Typical Price
- Exceptional or early edition Saito print in fine condition: $3,000–$15,000
Bunraku—the classical puppet theater that emerged in seventeenth-century Osaka—was among the most demanding of Japan's traditional performing arts, requiring three manipulators per puppet and years of training to achieve the illusion of life. Saito's (A) version from 1959 focuses on the puppet's head with the same intense concentration he brought to Buddhist sculpture, treating the carved and painted face as a mask of pure theatrical emotion, the grain of the woodblock reinforcing the grain of the puppet's lacquered features.
歌舞伎
Woodblock print
1955
Woodblock print
1928
Color lithograph
1930
Color lithograph
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Bunraku (A), Shôwa period, dated 1959 was created by Saito Kiyoshi (斎藤清).
Bunraku (A), Shôwa period, dated 1959 depicts kabuki.
