Catalog: Fine Art (189)

Poem 70-10 is the kanji for day 日. It is a striking, simply executed print. Created in 1970, it is now over a half-century old. The print is 17.5in W x 24.5in H, large (but not huge). As Daniel Tretiak has said: In 1970 quite suddenly Haku Maki started producing truly large prints. He tells us that this one was large but Maki was destined to do even larger ones, that year and in 1973.

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.

Collection 30 is one of the many striking prints of ceramics that fascinated Maki from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. Maki’s ceramic prints conveyed the “feel” of the bowls or cups or wine vessels—a sense of how it would feel if touched was imparted to the viewer through his ability to suggest texture in his prints. In this case, a black bowl has red places showing through the black, suggesting that the potter fired it first with a red glaze, then decided to cover it by coating it with black paint. Collection 30 is 9.5in W x 10.75in H. Created in 1979 (the date is in the Maki signature), the print is in great condition with only slight toning suggesting it was at some point framed.

What fun this print is—a swirl of kanji virtually unreadable but a delight to the eye. 79-9 was done in 1979 and measures 9.25in W x 10.75in H. The print is in excellent condition.

Poem 70-19 is one of the fairly small group of deep blue prints that Maki made. This one is 5.75 in W x 8.5in H and created in 1970. It is in good condition, with some toning due to its once having been framed.

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.

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.

Poem 71-71 is a Maki depiction of 子 Child and is one of those large red kanji on a black background that Daniel Tretiak valled a Big Red. This one measures 12in W by 17.5in H and is no.13 of an edition of 153. It is in excellent condition.

Over the course of his print-making life, Haku Maki often depicted the kanji for Man, Woman, and Child. This is a “man” from 1979; it measures 9.5in W x 10.75in H and numbers 42 of a total edition of 204.

Dragons—or at least the kanji for them—featured often in Haku Maki’s work. Work 73-12A –black kanji on white—came out first in 1973 and was followed quickly by a black dragon on red (which follows this one on this site). It measures 11.5inW x 15.25inH, is 16 of an edition of 103, and is in good condition

Work 73-12B, a red dragon kanji on a black background, appears to be a pair alongside Work 73-12A Dragon that precedes this one on the site. This one measures 11.75inW x 15.5inH, a tiny bit larger than its mate. It is number 68 of an edition of 103 and is in fine condition.

This is another of Haku Maki’s depictions of the kanji天 for day, heaven, sky. It’s a fairly easy character to make stark and lovely. The next year, 1971, he did another black-and-white dramatic rendering of the same kanji (Poem 71-51, which is below at #1452042 (stock #1077). The print is 12in square and in excellent condition.

The dramatic Poem 70-37 is the kanji for Self已. It measures 17.5in W x 24in H and is in very good condition.(There is slight toning in the margins.)

This print—Poem 71-61—was done by Haku Maki late in 1971. The print measures 14in W x 19 5/8in H and is in excellent condition.

Work 616 Moon and Bird is a very old print. Done in 1961, fairly early in his career, the print is stylistically very different from the hundreds of prints that would follow over the years. Moreover, Maki at that time signed the print twice: one signature is on the print itself in the left corner, above his seal; the other is in the print margin, in the right corner. The title is in the left corner and the number and edition are in the center—over time he put the title in the middle and the number and edition in the left corner. The print measures 12in W x 17.25in H and is number 12 in an edition of 50.

In the late 1970s, ceramics became an important concentration for Maki’s artistic creations. As ceramic objects are central to Japanese culture, he didn’t have to look far for inspiration. He did many fine examples and the texture of each item is always striking. This tan bowl was created in 1979. Collection 19 was number 12 of 205 and it measures 9.5inW x 10.5inH. It is embossed and in good condition.

Poem 68-40—strongly related to Poem 69-13 which is posted below on this site—is an old embossed print. Created in 1968, a year before its “cousin,” it is similarly in excellent condition. Poem 68-40 measures 11 3/8in W x 15in H and is number 29 of an edition of 72.

In his book Daniel Tretiak says: “Maki’s kanji prints were normally of one main color against a white or black background. Poem 71-29 below is an exception—and all the more interesting because of it. In this print, Maki has created an abstract Person—the splashes of color show the head, eyes, shoulder, and two legs.” It measures 8.75in W X 12in H and is no. 73 of an edition of 152.