Poem 70-80 by Haku Maki

This is a color relief print by Japanese modernist printmaker Haku Maki. His works are titled by year and work number, so Poem 70 - 80 means this is the 80th artwork produced in 1970. Maki was an innovative printmaker. He was very interested in developing surfaces to his prints, so would use embossing and very thick inks to give a three-dimensional aspect to the pieces. He also liked to use Chinese symbols and chops as his subjects. These do not convey meaning, but give an Asian feel to his pieces. This work in black, red, and blue has a depth and rich appearance. It is a rectangular format 4.25 inches by 6.5 inches. A small red chop mark is included lower left. His name is in pencil lower right, the title in Arabic numerals lower center, and the edition 76/151 lower left. The piece is unframed and is in excellent condition. The sheet size is 5 x 7.75 inches. There are no condition issues. A dramatic piece by this innovative artist.

Haku Maki (1924–2000) was an innovative Japanese printmaker. His given name was name Maejima Tadaaki. He was trained as a teacher and immediately before World War II was a principal in an elementary school. He was conscripted into the Japanese air force and was trained as a kamikaze pilot. Fortunately for the art world, Japan surrendered before he flew his mission. After the war He went back to teaching, but also began studying printmaking at the Modern Print Research Society with Koshiro Onchi. Upon completion of his studies, he changed his name to Haku Maki. He developed a unique form of printmaking which combined traditional woodblock printing with relief printing. After carving the block, He applied cement around the carved area. He then used tools to remove cement to create the image. This also allowed him to embossed the paper which is usually not possible with traditional woodblock printing. His work typically features the use of distorted Chinese characters (kanji) and calligraphy. Embossing is also a common although not ubiquitous feature. He likely produced more than 2000 individual works from the 1950s until his death in 2000, so he is one of the most prolific Japanese printmakers of the modern era. Haku MKI participated in the Tokyo International Print Biennale in 1957 and 1960. His work is held in many major collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (which has one of the largest collections in the United States), the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Japanese Print Association, and the Yoseido Gallery (Tokyo) which also holds his archives.