B. 1924 Asomachi, Ibaraka prefecture
Studied under sosaku hanga artist Onchi Koshiro

Haku Maki is primarily known for his abstract prints that are as minimal as they are expressive. The subject of many of Haku Maki’s prints is Kanji characters. In these prints the characters are rendered as expressive forms of shape and color, often appearing like something between ancient hieroglyphics and western biomorphic surrealist abstractions. Haku Maki himself titled many of these prints as “poems”. Eventually in his career he began to make prints of objects like ceramic bowls and persimmons, also strong symbols of Japanese culture. These prints were often printed with a technique involving cement poured around wood block carvings which created deep embosses in the paper and gave the prints three dimensional qualities.

Museum Collections: MoMa, British Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Phildelphia Museum of Art, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Cincinnati Art Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts