Description: Japanese woodcut in colors. Titled: "Winter in Nikko" S: 14 3/4 x 20 1/4 in. O: 23 1/2 x 29 in. Japanese artist Kiyoshi Saito did not have it easy. Nature endowed him with an impulse for art and the drive to make the impossible possible. Saito studied European artists to recognize the qualities in the Japanese tradition itself, for which the modern international trends strive. His woodblock prints using traditional Japanese technique are among the most sought after pieces in the art market. The works of Kiyoshi Saito were influenced by the cultural legacies of northern Japan and also sometimes by its scarce landscape. A certain folksy-archaic roughness and a simultaneous expressionist abstraction give them a distinctive sense of contemporary printing. Saito also stayed true to the traditional Japanese techniques. He connected them, however, to modern two dimensional geometric principles. Saito's work captures people with its compositional clarity and artistic simplicity. The bold abstraction and spontaneous design give his work a special quality. And it makes an extremely fresh and lively impression on those who are accustomed to showing a stamp/seal and a signature with the images - usually small tabloids. Motifs include everything from landscapes, portraits, and still life to animals and plants of all sorts.