Catalog (175)

boe kCraft wrote the last frame thanks bob

Maki's Emanation series may well have been 100 different images. This is an early one. It shows a young man ready to grope a woman’s breasts. Who is the man and who is the woman? Adam and Eve? Maki and his wife? Maki and another woman? It measures 16" x 16". Here I show images of the current emanation and single images of other prints in the Emanation series. The last frame is Emanation 100.

Haku Maki was a prolific artist of modern Japanese prints in the second half of the 20th century. Many of his prints are known but quite a few remain unseen, even in the Internet age. The Emanation series was large: Maki probably produced more than 100 different prints in the series. At this advanced age, I have only seen about 30 of the Emanation prints—-and have only managed to acquire a few. In Emanation 65B Maki has produced a very colorful print: the red core is set off by the orange strips or slashes at the center of the print. The dramatic white signature in English in the left corner enhances the whole print. This signature may be seen as a kind of splash, which came to be an integral part of many Maki prints. The texture of the print is Maki’s traditional rough style set off by the black background. The main colors—-red, orange and yellow—-are as fresh and vibrant as they were nearly 50 years ago when Maki produced this print. The print has no formal seal. It is the only Maki print I have ever seen without his characteristic seal or chop. The print measures 40cm x 57cm (20.5in x 16in). It was done in the mid-1960s. Its title Emanation 65B does not tell us the year of production, rather that it was done in the middle of the long production period of the Emanation series. In Maki’s early years, the editions were small; this is 29/50. This print has had a good life: it was in the possession of a collector in Sweden who cared for it well—-and then it arrived here. Copyright 2012 by Daniel Tretiak The circle at the right could be the sun or a young child

An interesting and rather unusual part of the Emanation series that Haku Maki began to produce in the mid-1960s, Emanation 73 measures 8.3inW x 11.3inH and is the fourth of a small run of 50.

Figure 1 is one of a large group of prints that were themselves usually large in size and in subject—one Chinese character in red on a black background. Daniel Tretiak called these prints Big Reds. Maki tended to insert one or more of such prints in the Figure, Poem and Work series. This Figure is number 8 of an edition of 50. It measures 14in wide X 21.75in high. There is tape residue on all four sides of the back—it has no impact on the front. Like virtually all of his Big Reds, this Maki print is striking, attention-getting in any room.

The print consists of vertical strokes, a mid-1960s series of six different images. The sun is large and shimmering. The paper is very heavy; the print is in good condition. It measures 12.5 “ x 18”.

In the 1960s, Haku Maki was beginning his career as a modern print maker. He used ersatz titles for different series of prints: Cell, Animal Song for the Zodiac, Proportion, Work, Figure,and Emanation. Flower Song was another. Here we show Flower Song 6, which I have just acquired, and Flower Song 3 which I have owned for a long time The others are not noteworthy. This one measures 13 x 17in/48 x 34cm.

In 1990 Haku Maki produced as many as 6 different images of famed Mt Fuji(Fuji-san). Here are three, each one printed from a different block.

Grape 2 is one of Haku Maki’s depictions of fruit. This one is pure and simple and in good condition. It is 8.5 sq inches.

Work 73-56 L (fish). This is the second of Maki’s three huge prints that I have owned. This is Work 73-56 L (fish). Several aspects of this image are intriguing. My archive of Maki prints reveals that Maki produced over 100 different images in 1973. I have been able to account for many of them: 1 to 50 and 99 to 110. I had never known what went in the middle. Now I know at least one was work 73-56, the third huge print that Maki did. It is 3 x 6 feet. All the others—73-57 to 73-98—remain to be revealed by others. This print is laudable not only for its huge size. The third of Maki‘s thee huge prints, it lacks a sun or moon or even a color splash. Frame 12 shows the black splash. The space is admirably taken up by the calligraphy of the character. One colleague says that the image reminds him of a whale. Indeed, not a minnow, to be sure. Sometimes I think it is not just one fish but a school of fish swimming up stream, each brush stroke being a fish in itself. It is so vivid that Maki must have felt, 40 years ago when he did it, that it did not need a sun or moon. Between Work 73-60 and 73-100 we have no record of any print appearing. Since our records are good but unable to create prints, we suspect Maki did all these images but they are yet to appear. Where are they hiding? One friend suggests the brown stain on the print is not coffee; Minckler also feels it is not coffee, some dark liquid if not what is it? I will know in a few days. Where did this print spend its life? One friend has suggested that, since it surfaced in Tokyo framed, it spent lts life in Japan. If so, the story is curious and curious-er. I suspect it spent most of its life in the US and for some reason it returned to Japan where it was sold at an auction there for a song and some one made a mint selling it to this Olde Man in Beijing. Gomenasai my eye. I am grateful to Michael Minckler for the photos of the print he is restoring. Frame 1 image shows curling, which occurred in shipping and will disappear not paper separation dt the print back side up in Minckler’s studio It is clean – no more stain voila

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?

J-10 is an exciting example not only of Haku Maki’s depiction of Chinese characters but also his use of a hard gold-edged board (instead of simple single or multiple sheets of paper). In the last year of Maki’s life, Daniel Tretiak tells us, he was ill but continued to work. He did lithographs on shikishi board, which was a hard board covered in white rice paper. The back was yellow with a small design in gold and the whole board is gold-edged. These words apply to J-10 as well. J-10 measures 7.25in W x 8.25in H. It is in excellent condition.

In 1968 and 69 Haku Maki produced Poem 5 for Festive Wine. That image was a paradigm of clarity as to what the kanji or Woman ought to look like. It was a smooth svelte character. Yet at this same time, he also did this print, a tall gangly woman. It is Poem 69-50. She looks as if she is askelter, not all “together”. Or is the left leg longer than the right one? The print itself is done in the Maki manner: Size 10.5 “ x 10.5”. Maki used splashes on his prints to give dynamism to the field: sometimes just one, sometimes two. Here: a yellow and red splash and a Maki seal.

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]. The paper is double thick, an early use of such paper by Maki. The horizontal print measures 21in x 9in.

In 1977 Haku Maki did the images for the months of the year. June is a horizontal print measuring 13.75in W x 6in H.

This silkscreen offering is said by some to depict Kabuki make-up. It is 8sq inches and in excellent condition. See picture 4, the title, where Maki seems to have written Kuma 92/--his numeral 1 was usually a straightforward vertical 1.

22 31 This huge image was done in 1983 as a silk screen print. Condition is excellent overall except for tape remnants at the very top. These will not come through and will not affect the print when framed or shown to friends. The white circle sometimes called a Sun, shimmers as it does in many Maki prints. 27" x 31", 41/60 No chop For shipping Packed between two strong pieces of plywood.

Maki Poem 616 earluy print still with single layer of paper. The image is of a Bird and Moon. This print has been fully restored