Catalog (284)

Haku Maki was a well-known Japanese print maker of the second half of the 20th century. About 20 of his workw I called Big Red and a few Big Blue or Big Green. This is one of the rare Big Blue prints. By my reckoning he did about three true Big Blues, this is one of them. Until this true image appeared I only knew of a catalogue image which we enhanced into a nice blue here in Beijing. This is the Real Deal. The strokes of the kanji are strong and vibrant Yet the image is cramped on the paper, as if Maki could not afford the paper! More often than not Maki’s big prints had a black sun: this one lacks that sun. and lacks a splash. It surely fills up the space. The image in the print is kanji for heart; to make life easier for his fans who read Chinese or Japanese, Maki put the hiragana for the image in the bottom margin. It reads kokoro which is Heart Edition: 7/58 Image Size: 19 X 19 inches. This print was published in 1973. The crowded nature of this print is not unique. Maki did a few in 1973 that were also of this style.

china silver ring early 20th

This is a quite large Maki Persimmon print This is Work 74-67 Haku Maki did prints with Persimmon as a main theme from the early 1970s for well over a decade. This is a fairly large image: it shows one persimmon growing out from the tree, with leaves coming off the branch. The leaves are very clear: they have been tipped with shellac so they look very shiny . This is 43/154, here Maki used ink the color of the persimmon when putting his seal on the print. To the best of my knowledge this is only the second copy of this print I have seen in more than ten years. It was not treated well at the beginning of its life: a framing company put tape on it man-years ago and the tape remnants cannot be removed. They are shown in the images of the back. Otherwise condition is very good, the persimmon is clean front and back and the front is clean. Tape remnants on the front

This is a dramatic rendering of the Chinese character for stone 石 by the Japanese artist Haku Maki. It's a large print, a Big Green, in the words of Daniel Ttretiak, who called Maki's large red depictions of characters (kanji) Big Reds. Please contact ldtnbj@gmail.com

Large lotus leaf 莲蓬 with moving seeds莲子活动 and two moving insects虫子

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

China old wooden toggle immortal - Tie Guai Li xx

China old document zz

Potato Z-8 12/24 Big kanji, big collage. Calligraphy and signature in silver ink. Excellent condition. 9.5" x 10.5"

Two lotus pods 莲蓬 with moving seeds莲子活动 and a frog on top.

Japan Festive Wine the book A xx

Four (4) lotus pods莲蓬 with moving seeds莲子活动. Patina 皮光 is excellent.

China old wooden toggle immortal xx

This old blue carpet with animals is in very good condition.

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?

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

china old clay brushpot 1930s tangshan xx

Some time ago one Connie Elrod offered me a set of the Maki zodiac in a format never seen before or since. These are not pulled from cement blocks. Rather they seem to be printed lithographs. One James Imai, a friend of Maki who lives in California, commissioned Maki to do a special zodiac set for the Lunar Year. Imai seems to have sent a card every year to friends. Imai sent them to his friend James Elrod seemingly one every year for 12 years. The designs are strong and dramatic and very creative. Only Elrod’s daughter ever released a set. Maki began the series in 1983 with the Year of the He did it for 12 years and then two more and then he died.