Haku Maki Art

Poem 71-25 (Me) Color woodcut with cement mold embossing, 1971 Signed, titled and numbered in pencil (see photos) Edition 100 (55/100) (see photo) Signed with the artist's stamp lower right of image (see photo) COVER IMAGE, The Life and Works of Haku Maki, Daniel Tretiak, 2007, hence an imnportant print by the artist Conditon: Excellent Never framed Colors very fresh and vibrant Soft folds in the small upper margin (usual) Image size: 30 x 19 1/4 inches Reference: Haku Maki No. 942 Haku Maki (1924-2000) Born in Asomachi, Ibaraki prefecture, in 1924, Haku Maki 巻 白 served in the WWII before becoming a high school teacher in 1950. Around this time he began to produce his mixed media-prints. While his process began with carving a woodblock, he would the add cement around the carved areas. Once the cement had dried, he would carve over his original lines. This process produced the deep embossing so characteristic of his works. In terms of subject matter, Maki explored abstracted Chinese characters, though also ceramics and persimmons later in life. After 1960, he began to add spots of color to his compositions. A master of modern Japanese abstract printmaking, Maki's work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the British Museum. “The artist was born with the name Maejima Tadaaki in 1924 in the small town Asomachi in the Ibaraki Prefecture of Japan. He graduated at Ibaraki Teachers' College and became vice-principal of an elementary school there. In 1945 he was in a special squadron of kamikaze pilots and his life was to be ended. However, with the surrender of Japan on August 14, 1945 his life was spared, and he became a teacher at a high school. He studied printmaking at the Modern Print Research Society with Koshiro Onchi andi, in 1950 he changed his name to Haku Maki. His work has a few characteristic design elements for which he became famous - deep embossing and the use of distorted Chinese characters. Maki developed his own process of relief printmaking, applying mixed media printing techniques. The artist first carved a conventional woodblock. Then he put cement around the carved areas. When the cement had dried out, Haku Maki carved and chiseled the cement into the shape he wanted to have. Then a wet, double-layered paper was used for the printing. Thus prints made in this technique show strong embossing. Haku Maki's works look nearly three-dimensional. In 1969, Maki designed 21 block prints to accompany the book Festive Wine, ancient poetic songs from the 5th to the 9th century and published by John Weatherhill, Inc. His later works are composed of a broad range of variations on the use of calligraphic shapes. In later life health problems made it often difficult for him to create his art works and he was assisted by his wife in the printing of the editions. Haku Maki died of cancer in 2000.” Courtesy Annex Galleries References: James A. Michener, The Modern Japanese Print...

This work is immediately recognizable as the work of Haku Maki (1924-2000). It is one of his well-known abstract compositions. The print is in very good condition, with no flaws noted on the surface. There is some very, very light toning in the margins, barely visible only under bright light. Maki Haku (巻白, 1924–2000) is the artistic name of Maejima Tadaaki, who was born in Ibaraki Prefecture. He was a sōsaku-hanga artist in 20th Century Japan. During World War II, Maejima Tadaaki was trained as a kamikaze pilot in the Japanese air force, but the war ended before he was assigned a mission. Haku had no formal art training, but studied for two years with the sōsaku-hanga artist Onchi Kōshirō...