Dance 69-1

A self-taught printmaker, Maki Haku was a prolific member of the Creative Prints (sōsaku hanga 創作版画) movement begun in the 20th century. He first gained recognition for calligraphic prints, often using seal script for its aesthetic qualities. His seal characters might be recognizable words, or, as seen in these two prints, could be altered and stylized, suggesting inchoate meanings or empasizing the pictorial character of seal script.

Maki Haku had a unique printing technique in which he carved a woodblock, leaving the characters and other parts raised, but then covered the carved-out areas with cement that he shaped. When printing, he used thick paper and pressed it onto the cemented areas, transferring the rough, irregular texture onto the print. When this method was combined with seal script characters it produced an archaic, almost primeval quality.

In Dance 69–1, Maki Haku takes seal script characters for “man,” “woman,” and “child,” along with modified and created characters, and brings them to life in a scene of pulsating movement and energy. The red circle at the bottom suggests a fire around which the people are gathered. Above the figures is the yellow form of a waxing gibbous moon, toward which they seem to reach.