Head of Moon Goddess
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Honolulu Museum of Art
Description
The moon goddess subject allowed Saito to work in a register somewhere between icon-painting and abstraction—the head depicted in strict frontality, the face a simplified oval with features reduced to their essential geometry, the whole composition bathed in the cold luminosity associated with lunar deities across East Asian tradition. The flatness of the woodblock medium suits the subject perfectly: a face without shadow, without volume, without mortality.
More Prints by Saito Kiyoshi
More Moonlight Prints
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Matsushima in Moonlight (Tsuki no Matsushima)
1919
Color woodblock print
Kiyozumi Garden in Moonlight
January 1938
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Head of Moon Goddess was created by Saito Kiyoshi (斎藤清).
Head of Moon Goddess depicts moonlight, night scenes, and portraits.