Scene from a Noh play, published 1922-1926

Signed Kogyo on lower left with artist’s seal, fan-shaped publisher’s seal, fine impression and color, visible woodgrain, overall good condition

Oban tate-e: 10 x 14 ¾ in.

In 1971 Haku Maki Japanese Master print-maker was at the height of his creative powers. He had already done several “big” prints and turned his skills to producing dramatic prints. This Big Blue was one. It depicts a war instrument, a halberd. Maki created this design so that it showed how the character was written. He showed us how the stroke order flowed on a woodblock print...

This colorful print is an early Maki embossed print. It is a quite small print done in a very low run. Only 30 copies were made. Maki started doing 50 copies by 1962. Earlier he may have lacked the confidence to do runs of that size so he did 30 as shown here The three red suns are dramatic, The print is signed in white ink, an early Maki touch. The 3 suns shimmer. The title is in kanji – a rare Maki style. This is Ji hao 31 [Signal 31]...

In 1981 Haku Maki suddenly produced a modest series of prints with a vinyl (old leather)-like background. I have already written about several of these in my Research Note 8. Now I present another: a striking orange red persimmon with leaves tipped with a special Japanese lacquer and the background in vinyl. This is 81-31 and it is 175/190.

Poem 70-73 Taiwa (Level or peace), 31/106, 17.5”x 24.5”. Haku Maki produced this Big Green print in 1970. His Big prints-—large for him-—appeared mainly in the period 1968-75. This print, the only horizontal one of all his Big prints, depicts the kanji for Level, Peace and the like. I believe it has other meanings. When I first saw this image many years ago but had not seen the bottom margin clearly, I thought it was a stylized rendition of Woman, a very frequent Maki subject...

The Frugal Repas by Pablo Picasso from the edition of 1913 on arches paper trimmed with .5 inch margins a fine impression of this most famous of prints. Plate size 18 1/4 x 14 7/8 in. (46.4 x 37.8 cm) . A fine addition to any collection framed and archival matted in a fine gallery presentation frame.

This Maki Big Red has the Kanji (Chinese character) for Flower as its theme. The Flower is red and strong; it is set off by a black Sun to the right. A blue tear balances the sun on the left. Maki’s seal in red ink paste, is below the tear, also at the left. Although Maki himself printed this image, the ink looks as if it was layered on by hand. This is 133/154; Print size is about 11” x 18”. We note: the paper in this print is smooth, it does not have the moon-surface effect...

The kanji for Peach appears in the uppper right of the print. 17 of 24 Haku Maki was one of the grand masters of the Sosaku-hanga print movement. Maki Haku (1924-2000) is the artistic name of Maejima Tadaaki, who was born in Ibaraki Prefecture. He had no formal art training, but was guided by the s¨­saku hanga leading artist Onchi Ko­shiro 1891-1955). Maki Haku is best known for his abstract-calligrapic prints...

In 1966 Haku Maki produced one of his many abstract series. He did Cell and he did Proportion Here I show Proportion 10 the white strokes appear against a beautiful yellow background . Above the strokes is a white Sun. Wow there are two Maki seals one at the top right and another at the lower left There is a red splash in the center .two images f Proportion 9 are added where are Proportion 1 through 8? 43/50

This is an original etching on laid paper by renowned artist Edouard Manet [MANET, Édouard (1832-1883)]. It is titled, "Baudelaire de profil en chapeau." Created in 1869, this etching features Edouard Manet’s signature monogram stamp in the upper left, ‘Peint et Gravé par Manet 1862’ was engraved in the plate in the lower left with ‘Imp. A. Salmon’ in the lower right...

This long blue print is number 91 of an edition of 154 and measures 29 in. x 14 in.

This is a brilliant example of Haku Maki's Big Red prints, his frequent use of a large red character on a black background.

Dramatic kanji, sun and splash--this small print epitomizes the Maki style at its height. The kanji streaks across the print, now it is blue now it is black.There is a strong black sun and a sharp yellow plash--and the Maki seal. Yet it is not crowded. The Maki seal at the right is a roll, the Maki of his name.

In 1971 Haku Maki produced this large print, Poem 71-25. It was an edition of 100. This new arrival was produced in Tokyo and went ultimately to Florida in the US. It stayed there for a long time. In the course of its life there it was not treated nicely: It was folded in two places. The print had foxing, it had many ailments...

Maki’s earliest works were done in the late 1950s and remained rather unknown until the late 1960s. He first started producing prints using red ink in 1965 and this is probably the first example. It is also what I call a Big Red. It is very abstract and it fills up the whole sheet. Maki wanted his prints to have balance. This has it: the red field is pierced by three blue squares: two on the left side of the orange meteor-like strokes, and one on the right side. The field is composed of small...

Haku Maki started making embossed prints circa 1965. These in the main featured embossing that came out from the back to the front. However, I suddenly discovered that a number of prints in the 1976 - 1977 period were done with the embossing going into not out of the front This style or process does not seem to have hurt any aspect of Maki’s work nor benefited it. I have commented on this departure in style to a few friends but they have said the equivalent of "let It be." Is that all we c...

Poem 70-72. This striking Maki Big Red has had a long history for being just 40 years old. It has seen the world and is now back in Asia, in Beijing. This is as near to Tokyo, where it was created by Maki, that it has been in many years. In this case, the big red letter is the hiragana "chi" ‚¿ or shiru, which means to know, find out, to learn, or have knowledge. This is a wonderful sweeping red stroke (actually two strokes) which whooshes across the black background like a meteor or comet ...

This original etching is by Francisco de Goya. It is titled, "The Little Prisoner:" (Le Petit Prisonier). In Spanish title is, 'Tan Bárbara la Seguridad como el Delito': (The imprisonment is as barbarous as the crime). It captures and symbolizes Goya's ideas about the human condition and suffering: a poor soul, quite grim. It was first issued in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. XXII, Paris, 1867. It is pre-framed. That actually etching measures 110mm x 85mm (approximately 4 1/8" x 3 1/8". It come...