Catalog (175)

Haku Maki in 1968 did a group of prints depicting animals from Asia’s Zodiac, which has an animal for each year in a 12-year cycle. Maki called this series of prints Animal Song. This one is Animal Song 申, the character for the Year of the Monkey. The print is square, measuring 17 1/8 in W x 17 1/8in H, and is in excellent condition.

Daniel Tretiak, after publishing his book The Life and Works of Haku Maki in 2007, found that he had more to say about prints as they came into his life. And so, from time to time, he wrote Research Notes and published them on this site. For Note 1, he wrote the following: This is a collage of Maki prints depicting the tokkuri (sake bottle). We have added images of most of the prints here. Enjoy. Be Sure to CLICK Above as directed, please.

Daniel Tretiak, after publishing his book The Life and Works of Haku Maki in 2007, found that he had more to say about prints as they came into his life. And so he wrote Research Notes and published them on this site.

I call this set of images The Zodiac but Maki formally called this Animal Song + the animal name. The actual prints here are Animal Song - Monkey Dog Snake and Dragon. Each print came in an edition of 50 copies. Red Lantern Gallery in Kyoto distributed them. 1968.

This note is the fourth in the series of Research Notes.

Haku Maki was a major creative Japanese print maker of the second half of the 20th century. His major output from 1965 to 1990 consisted to several different themes of prints Kanji was the main theme for the first 15 years of that period. Then. Ceramics was second. But he also did a large number of prints with persimmon on theme. Most of the persimmon prints showed just one fruit. A few showed two Only two showed 3. These are shown here Both prints are serene no jarring colors or edges. The one with 3 clearly visible one shows 3 different persimmons side by side The shadow persimmon are quiet hard to see even when held in hand. Both prints are well done, sharp clear images. The typical bottom margin shows the edition number the Maki signature and title of the print From 1971 to the early 80s he did well over 100 prints with Persimmon as the main theme The print with the colored persimmons is Kaki Z-1 The white persimmons print is simply 81-3 manning It was done in 1981 persimmon is sign of autumn i am told As autumn wanes, and first snows arrive, persimmons are a radiant reminder of beauty in a time of decline and decay, offering hope that the beauty of the fruit will attract birds to disseminate seeds for regrowth in the spring. Hence a sign of joy, beauty and hope for the future...... The last frame is from a private collection in Asia. I cannot ascertain the title or the year. Maki used the same blocks for the last two images.

In 1970 Japanese print maker Haku Maki (1921 – 2000) produced this large Wind image. It is 84c x 84 cm; 33 " x 33" . Provenance; Maki produced this print and this copy was sold to a Japanese buyer it stayed in Japan until it came to me last week in Beijing this is one of the few times I have been able to obtain a Maki print from Japan not through a dealer. When the previous owner decided to sell he did so through an auction in Japan; then it was fully restore in Tokyo and I acquired it. Because of its size it may be called Big Wind or even more poetically Diviner Wind. The main image shows a rounded not square stroke for the outer part of the image. Within this perimeter there are three black strokes to fill out the kanji for Wind Then Maki added his own touches --a large Yellow Sun and a quite small brown splash. This fairly complex set of stokes is balanced off by Maki’s seal of the day and a black kanji for Maaki’s surname. Maki did a number of big prints However he seems to have done less than ten prints this large Two known to me were done in 1973; if he did more I have still to find them. This print is 32/ 50. 33" x 33" last image is Poem woman

Haku Maki did a wide range of works: prints of many sizes, book plates, greeting cards, and postcards. Here are four postcards that he did in 1999. They are lithographs, each signed and with a Maki seal. They also appeared as prints at the same time. Haku Maki or his family produced them in the last year or so of his life.

The Portland Art Museum has very recently begun to put its holdings of prints of Haku Maki on its site. These cover a wide range of Maki art: from the very earliest days of his work until the 1980s. The listing is particularly exciting because it shows several very early prints I have never seen. These are shown in the first 3 images of this listing. At the beginning, Maki’s images were abstract, embossed and small editions. We see the earliest known Woman image, an apple and a Work image that I still cannot explain. Of importance to other Maki collectors and me is an image of Mt Fuji which I had not seen before and one of 2 insects in the style of San Mon Ban images but slightly larger in size. There will be more coming on line soon. I thank Todd Burke for directing me to this source and Maribeth Graybill and Amanda Kohn for making it happen. Daniel Tretiak Copyright 2013 The museum has about 75 Maki prints; about 40 are on line and available for viewing in Portland Oregon The first 3 images of this listing http://www.portlandartmuseum.us/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=keyword;keyword=Haku%20Maki

This note is the fifth in Daniel Tretiak's series of research notes.

In 1960 Maki did the image shown. It is called Symbol. In all the years of collecting Maki prints and images I have never seen this one again. It is quite large but seems cluttered. Forty years later he did it as a print and a post card even as one friend has suggested he did the print before 1999, the date on the print. The seals are authentic not printed, and they are original Maki seals from well-used chops.

teaching example board wrapped in thin paper last 2 images seller claims this is from Oakland Museum seller claims it is signed by Maki the writing and the date are NOT Maki style Maki did the print but did he sign it? did he sign this "painting" friend doubts Oakland Museum and Maki would not have meshed

Haku Maki tried to work until he died; the last images were not pretty. They were printed first on very thin paper, which was then “wrapped” around heavy shikishi board. They are lithographs not done from wood blocks. From the late 1980s Maki had stopped doing embossed prints turning instead to collages and lithographed prints. These are among his last prints: Kyowa brand Shikishi board is made in Japan. Size: 9 1/2" x 10 1/2" (24.2cm x 27.2cm) There are two (2) pieces in one pack. These plain Shikishi art boards got a white rice paper on one side and light yellow color paper with golden sparkles on the other, edged with gold colored trim. Already mounted, the white rice paper surface is still very absorbent. You may also paint or write on the yellow side if you wish. Thus late in life Maki seems to have experimented by doing lithograph on this board. The prints all give the impression of being dashed off with a brush, not printed, but they were. These were supposedly large editions, up to several hundred, but some were done in small editions. Maki did not give these prints titles. Hence I describe the themes as follows: from left to right: Self Not known Mountain Nothingness Rain and Let it go All the images follow the Maki formula for identifying them as his: they are signed (but we cannot confirm by whom), they have the Maki seal (but who affixed it?) and who actually published the print? Maki was near death when these were done. Why did Maki do them?

The bottom margin states this is 39/777 but did Maki really do that many and if so where are they? This is a late-in-life Maki print. Where did this idea come from? A sunflower! I know van Gogh did quite a few famous paintings depicting many sunflowers, all realistic paintings. The Japanese printmaker Tadashi Nakayama did many different takes on Sunflowers. These were realistic depictions. Nakayama did fewer. Maki did this one and it was quite abstract It was the only Sunflower he did. It came late in life; it is a silk screen effort and interesting if not compelling. He used yellow and blue to depict the flower in this. I do not believe Maki did 777 of this or any image.

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. He distorted and rearranged characters and strokes to produce striking and serene images. Maki passed away in 2000; as a result his prints are rapidly escalating in price and value as this talented artist will no longer be producing his unique work. ¨adapted from Robert Berg's listing

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 can say? Shown here are the images for July, November and December. In these 3 prints, Maki did the embossing in the way I just described.

Work 73-5 is a funny, lively snowman--or snow child. It is number 28 of an edition of 103 and measures 9.5in W x 17.5in H.

Work 73-12A is a firm and strong dragon not fierce not wimpy. The central kanji is offset by a small yellow Maki sun at the top left and a red splash on the right. They counterbalance each other and give color and verve to the whole print.