Catalog: Fine Art (182)

Chinese scroll. Calligraphy for longevity.

[NOTE: I think my late husband Daniel Tretiak wrote this in 2007, after he got this site up and running.] Daniel Tretiak has written a book, The Life and Works of Haku Maki, the important Japanese printmaker of the second half of the 20th Century. Maki toiled alone most of the time between 1960 and 2000. His output was substantial, most of it was cool, crisp, elegant. An example is shown above. I wrote about it: "The print in the center is the kanji for Me or I; it swooshes across the print, as if written with a big brush." It is Poem 71-25, done in 1971. It had an edition of 151. I own the print; I have only seen it offered once -- and I thought it was dramatic and beautiful then and still think so. As part of the print, Maki put his characteristic "splash", the yellow stroke which is part of yet a bit separate from the main image. Now we add eight more images of prints by Haku Maki. They are all in the book and are all beautiful prints. The cover will be selected from these and the one that has been here for quite a while. Which one do you think will be the cover? Here is a list of the images by year and number in the edition. (Note: this listing and the order of the images is still not perfect; this is a work in progress, sorry.) 1968 Zodiac Animal Song Monkey 11/50; 1969 Dance 4 96/105; 1970 Poem 71-25 (Me) 91/100; 1970 Poem 70-84 140/152; 1971 Poem 72-6 17/201; 1978 Collection 16 125/205; 1988 Z-1 Persimmon 18/100; and 1995 Zen 3-B 7/27; Like the first image on this site: a good Maki print draws the eye toward the center, there is little clutter between the outer margin and the image depicted. Maki's most well-known work may have been the illustrations he did for the translated volume, Festive Wine. But he did much more. His work was done in a modern way in a modern era -- yet it was based on many very traditional concepts (ancient and early kanji, ceramics, persimmons, and the like). His work is carefully discussed in this book. This site is a work in progress, many things will change in the coming weeks. Note: Text and images all covered by Copyright; use of them requires the expressed written permission of Daniel Tretiak, author of this book.

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

This scroll depicts the evolution of the Chinese character for dragon, from its current traditional form at the top to centuries-old and ancient forms below. The abbreviated character in use today in China is 龙 .

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.

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.

China zodiac scrolls xx

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

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 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.

Yuji Abe passed away in Tokyo on 15 May. Japan art leader Abe-san was 86 He was a dean of the modern a Japanese print world from his base at Yoseido Gallery in Ginza. He tutored many young and not so young gaijin to learn about Japanese modern prints He was a dashing suave figure in his 50s. He had been in ill health for a number of years I attach a recently restored 1961 Maki print he may have handled way back then. This print was done 50 years ago. In a visit to Yoseido in the mid-70s I asked Abe-san what he thought about contemporary Chinese art; he paused for a minute or so and said very presently, “Chinese art is sleeping”. It has since awakened. He was born in Ginza in Tokyo in 1925.

[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

This research note was written by Bob Craft, who compiled the catalogue raisonné of Maki's works. See it at http://haku-maki.com/. This note discusses Maki's print-making technique.

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.

As Haku Maki aficionados know, Maki did many prints depicting the kanji for ox or bull. This one, Z-200b, is one of his great bulls. One of a small edition of 75, it is 12.5 in wide X 19in high. The print, created in 1999, is in excellent condition. For another wonderful example of Maki's ox-making, see Item#1452034 below--a brilliant Big Red ox.

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.

This print, done in 1969, has—Dan Tretiak writes—an abstract child and a reddish moon. He also saw the blue seemingly changing from light to dark. The print is horizontal, measuring 15in W x 11.5in H.