On View
Not on viewObject number2023.60
Poem 69-61
Artist
Haku Maki
(Japanese, 1924-2000)
Date1969
Mediumcolor woodblock and cement block print
Dimensionsmat: 22 × 18 in. (55.9 × 45.7 cm)
sheet: 17 1/8 × 7 1/4 in. (43.5 × 18.4 cm)
image: 15 1/8 × 5 1/2 in. (38.4 × 14 cm)
sheet: 17 1/8 × 7 1/4 in. (43.5 × 18.4 cm)
image: 15 1/8 × 5 1/2 in. (38.4 × 14 cm)
Credit LineGift of Stan Rajnak and Margaret Edmonds
Exhibition History"Sugoi! 200 Years of Japanese Art," KIA, Galleries 2 & 5 (May 13, 2023 - September 24, 2023)Label TextHaku Maki was primarily self-taught. In the late 1950s, he selected the art name (gō) Haku Maki (literally, “white roll,” with connotations similar to “airhead”) to promote himself as an eccentric artist who lacked academic training.
The main image in Maki’s prints is usually a true or modified kanji (kaan●jee)—a system of Japanese writing using Chinese characters. Featured in the center of this print is a highly stylized, abstract form of the word "mountain road." It is both inked and embossed on a double thickness of paper. Maki carved the character into a wooden block enhanced with dried, carved cement to maximize the depth of the relief. He began the Poem series in the 1960s. The artist’s consistent titling system identifies this work as the 61st print made in the year 1969. [Label for “Sugoi! 200 Years of Japanese Art", 2023]
