The clay image of 1953—a haniwa-adjacent subject that recurs throughout Saito's early and middle work—represents his interest in Japan's pre-Buddhist artistic heritage. These modeled clay figurines, grave goods from the Kofun period (third to seventh centuries CE), offered him a formally compelling antecedent to his own reductive figure style: small bodies with disproportionately large heads, simplified features, an archaic frontality that his woodblock medium naturally echoed. Edition 45 of 50 from a small run.
Kamakura Daibutsu
1930
Color woodblock print
1950
Color woodblock print
大仏
Woodblock print
1926
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Clay Image was created by Saito Kiyoshi (斎藤清) in 1953.
Clay Image depicts religious, still life, and abstract.
Clay Image measures 41.9 × 58.4 cm.
