The Tretiak Collection
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All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1970 item #1187885 (stock #3022)
The Tretiak Collection
The third part of Note 10 looks at the prints Maki probably did in the 1969 to 1975 period but that, at the time of Dan Tretiak's writing this, had not yet come to light.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1980 item #1184018
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This Guest Research Note 1 is much ado about Nothing. The Maki print in question is 73-50A (Nothing). The essay is by David Bieling.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1970 item #1183776
The Tretiak Collection
I call this set of images The Zodiac but Maki formally called them Animal Song + the animal name in kanji. The prints here are Animal Song. Red Lantern Gallery in Kyoto distributed them in 1968. In 1968 Haku Maki was commissioned by Red Lantern Gallery to produce the 12 animals of the Zodiac in a series entitled Animal Song. My Research Note 3 described the set briefly. This is an enhanced version. Maki did only 50 copies of each print; that was a normal run for him in that period. Over ten years I have only been able to see images of five prints. I own 4. Jennifer Britton owns the set. Her parents gave them to her. Within the past week I have been shown all 12. I am thrilled to post them here. I have not seen such a set and will not see one again. They were purchased in 1968 at the source and kept in a closet for many years. Jennifer Britton has kindly sent me photographs of the prints. The actual prints still hang in Ms. Britton’s home. They are all done in the best of Maki’s style: clear images, not necessarily simple ones, and very good colors. There are green and blue but also gray,teak and others. Please enjoy them. The image for Ox is really good. It shows two Chinese characters for Ox: one the design that Maki favored much of his life, the other I believe he only used once besides in this commentary. Each of the 12 images was done off the same cement block but changed for each image. The animals depicted are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, cock, dog, and boar. This 12-part series beats the socks off the great 22 images that Maki produced for the classic Festive Wine.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1980 item #1181673
The Tretiak Collection
SOLD
This long blue print is number 91 of an edition of 154 and measures 29 in. x 14 in.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1980 item #1181175
The Tretiak Collection
Haku Maki Poem 71 92 - was done in 1971, one of the four years in which Maki did over 100 different prints. In 1971 he did about 5 Big prints – at least two sides are over 30 inches. In his total oeuvre he did 20+ big ones but only one Yellow This is it. It seems to be a single yellow stroke piercing the black; it is also the kanji for Mind in Maki’s mind. In mine it Is h Heart The big yellow stroke is set off by a yellow splash and a blue tear and a shimmering black sun (these are abstract parts of the kanji). The white ink signature at the left adds a nice final touch. It is a dramatic print, not soft. The single stroke may be seen as a meteor crashing through the black atmosphere targeting on Tokyo Beijing whichever. Size 30 ½"x15 ½" and edition 11/108; This print is spending the holidays getting restored in Oregon, after a challenging life in Florida – always hard for Maki prints, it will spend the Lunar New Year holidays in Beijing. Let a hundred flowers bloom Paul de Troy my Belgian colleague keeps me honest with trenchant criticism of my praise of Big Yellow. After examining my text he refers back to my research note 7 and the Big Reds. He wrote: “ I think his [Maki’s] best Big Reds are far more beautiful than this one. It has none of the energy of 70-72 or the elegance of 70-7 or the sensuality of 69-2 or the spontaneity of 69-5. none of the grace of woman 70-8. Big Yellow has none of that. I think it is a bit static in comparison. Not a comet streaking through the atmosphere. not too much passion. I don't know: I miss a kind of fluency for things like that. The title (Mind) suggests something else than energy or sensuality. This image rather breathes "Rest" to me. A rather peaceful state of mind. that's what it is to me. I'm beginning to like it, actually, because it's beginning to make sense. I can imagine it would make some impression, extending the human body, traveling beyond the practical world."
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1970 item #1179861
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This print contains Japanese hieroglyphics not real kanji. It shows "rain" "day" and maybe a bird. It is 19.3x12.6cm.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Contemporary item #1174594
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$49.95
[Note: Daniel Tretiak wrote this in 2012.] This work is now 5 years old. I set forth the main aspects of the works of Haku Maki, the main themes of his work, the main aspects of his style, and the broad range of his works. I think I did not realize in 2007 the range and versatility of his work, its drama and subtlety. Since this book was published I have written 9 research notes and many descriptions of key works. Amazon and Ren Brown Collection distribute this book. rbc4art@renbrown.com
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 2000 item #1172051
The Tretiak Collection
$195.00
Late in life, circa 1999, Japanese master print maker, Haku Maki, did this shikishiban print. It is called Z1-12 (WAZA); 7.25'' x 8.25''; Shikishiban is a nearly square format. Shikishiban are often mounted on a thick, light cardboard. Japanese people like to give them as presents. The print is in the US and will be shipped from there.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 2000 item #1171741
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Potato Z-8 12/24 Big kanji, big collage. Calligraphy and signature in silver ink. Excellent condition. 9.5" x 10.5"
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1970 item #1171266
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SOLD
The strokes in this print are "U", no meaning. This is an early print using Hiragana. It is two brush strokes piercing the space, leaving a trace of itself before coming to the bottom of the paper. It has but one splash across the top and a red tear along the side and then: Whoosh it goes as in the red image at the bottom. There is one sun at the outer edge of the stroke and two moons inside the curving stroke. Not so simple after all.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1970 item #1165867
The Tretiak Collection
In 1968 Haku Maki completed his Animal Song series. It was 12 different prints, one for each year of the Chinese/Japanese zodiac. Each print had the title Animal Song and the kanji for the animal, which was not translated. This print, Animal Song [dragon], 14/50, is a beautiful Maki red. The dragon of the image is a very traditional Chinese character for dragon. In this print Maki used the theme dragon for the first time. This dashing abstract kanji seems to almost swirl out of the paper. When sold the print was not in perfect condition: it was bought “laid down” and we carefully and successfully removed the backing, which was made of old industrial use wax paper. That paper protected the back for nearly 50 yeas, hence the lovely clean back. Maki produced this print for the Red Lantern Gallery in Kyoto, which sold it. Dragon 15 “ x 15”. Maki only used this dragon style in a greeting card he designed for the dragon year of 1976. Images above include the pristine back and the back as it arrived.
All Items : Artists : Prints : Pre 1980 item #1162126
The Tretiak Collection
SOLD
Work 73-6 Bizarre Maki. this print was done in early 1973 It is one of the ugliest Maki prints I have ever seen. In this period Maki did some of his largest prints and some also with seemingly weird qualities. But these big ones – easily seen to be a variation of Nothing or Mu—are not riddles. We know what they are because Maki told us what he meant. Here, he left no such advice. Several friends have also said they do not know what Maki meant So we leave it at that for now. 10.75 x 10.5 inch paper. Frame 6 shows a large Mu. The image is my new acquisition, somewhat like Work 73-6 but not understandable now.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1970 item #1159250
The Tretiak Collection
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
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1970 item #1155218
The Tretiak Collection
SOLD
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 green print shown in the last frame in this listing shows the possibility of this also meaning Woman. And a large prone woman at that. The image looks like a Level, a carpenter’s tool for determining if a surface is or is not level. A level reveals its findings when little balls glide back and forth in their space. In the print, Maki’s suns—-two black and one yellow—-could also represent the balls of a level. Hence, this design could have a primary meaning with two back-ups or hidden meanings.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1980 item #1149005
The Tretiak Collection
5.75 x 8.5 in. ai in Japanese The white background is punctuated by a yellow sun and a red splash --true Maki style. Frame 5 shows Sanae’s careful translation and explanation of this print – and her intuition as to what Maki-san may have meant when he created this image 41 years ago. Copyright 2012 Sanae Nakajima Chambers and Daniel Tretiak
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1990 item #1143008
The Tretiak Collection
SOLD
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.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Pre 1980 item #1140614
The Tretiak Collection
In 1976 Haku Maki did three pairs of prints in which the black and white were reversed. One set is shown here. The cement blocks were used to print the white on black, then cleaned to do black on white. These were done in such themes as Mind Wind and Cloud. These are strong sweeping images in rather large prints. The two Wind images here are typical of the type. They are all about 15" x 20" and in editions of 150.
All Items : Fine Art : Prints : Contemporary item #1139539 (stock #3019)
The Tretiak Collection
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.