Beggar's Pond

Artist Kikuo Saito (Japanese-American, 1939-2016)

Date2002

Dimensions77 × 115 1/2 in. (195.6 × 293.4 cm)
Frame: 77 3/8 × 116 7/8 × 1 7/8 in. (196.5 × 296.9 × 4.8 cm)

MediumAcrylic on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift from the Estate of Kikuo Saito and Leslie Feely Gallery

Object number

2019.59

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 04

Label TextKikuo Saito expanded traditions of Japanese calligraphy while also reflecting the influence of other abstract painters of his day. He had worked as a studio assistant to many of these artists, including Helen Frankenthaler (see a painting by her on view in Gallery 5). Beggar’s Pond exemplifies the gestural style and expressive energy of his late work. It also demonstrates his color sensibility (he mixed all the paint colors himself). Alongside his painting practice, Saito gained prominence as an experimental theater designer. The "Beggar's Pond" motif appears in his Theatre Paintings, which distill the bodily movements of a stage production into a single canvas. The artist’s process itself was rhythmic and performative in nature. He often painted on the floor, moving around the canvas to create the emotive strokes of color that result in a dynamic visual experience.