Haku Maki 巻白(1924 -2000)

Haku Maki (1924 -2000) was a modern printmaker and ceramicist and he was born Maejima Tadaaki in Asomachi, Japan. Around 1959 he changed his name to Haku Maki (translation roughly ‘White’ ‘Roll’) and developed a reputation for his Kanji themed prints in Japan and in the U.S. Often the Kanji style icons were his own typography. He used woodblocks and cement blocks to produce deep embossing on his paper images.

Later in life, Haku Maki explored ceramics using a range of glazing techniques, and illustrated them in highly realistic prints of the the ceramic vessels. Maki was a prolific artist producing over 2000 images in multiple editions. His work remains highly collectable. Daniel Tretiak, a collector and enthusiast of Haku Maki work, wrote a biography and is developing a catalogue raisonne of Maki’s work. His work is in public and private collections around the world, but is particularly popular in America. The British Museum holds a collection of over 30 of his printed works.