Head of Kwannon
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Typical Price
- Exceptional or early edition Saito print in fine condition: $3,000–$15,000
Kwannon (Kannon), the bodhisattva of compassion, appears throughout Saito's Buddhist imagery as both spiritual subject and formal challenge—how to render a face of perfect mercy without sentimentality. His solution was characteristically severe: the head occupies the composition with the stillness of a carved stone, features simplified to their irreducible minimum, the halo or crown rendered as flat geometric pattern. The work extends his lifelong dialogue with the great Nara-period sculptures he revered.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Head of Kwannon was created by Saito Kiyoshi (斎藤清).
Head of Kwannon depicts portraits.
