Cats
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Honolulu Museum of Art
Cats were among Saito's most beloved subjects, and he returned to them with the devotion of a naturalist and the eye of a formalist. These undated felines are likely among several cat prints he produced across multiple decades, their bodies reduced to smooth, bold silhouettes that carry an almost ceramic weight. The composition strips away environment to let the cat exist as pure form—the exact same reductive logic he applied to temples and Buddhas, suggesting that for Saito all subjects were ultimately occasions for the same meditation on essential shape.
Hebizukai
1932
Color woodblock print; oban
1935
Color woodblock print; oban
1964
Acrylic paint and oil pastel with oiled charcoal and ink over an ink and graphite underdrawing on paper
1964
Color lithograph with relief block and hand coloring; edition 35/36
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Cats was created by Saito Kiyoshi (斎藤清).
Cats depicts animals and cats.
