Biography
Charles Spitzack is an American mokuhanga artist who has distinguished himself through both his creative work and his recognition within the international mokuhanga community. Based in the United States, he received an award at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference in Echizen, Japan, placing him among a select group of artists whose work was singled out for excellence from among hundreds of international submissions.
Spitzack's engagement with mokuhanga situates him within a growing American movement that has embraced Japanese water-based woodblock printing as a serious contemporary medium. Unlike many Western printmakers who encounter mokuhanga through brief workshops or academic introductions, Spitzack has developed a sustained practice that demonstrates deep familiarity with the technique's material demands. Water-based woodblock printing requires an understanding of wood grain behavior, moisture management, pigment preparation, and the nuanced hand pressure applied through the baren -- knowledge that accumulates through years of dedicated practice.
His award at the 2024 IMC in Echizen was particularly meaningful given the conference's location. Echizen, in Fukui Prefecture, is one of Japan's most historically important papermaking regions, where washi has been produced for over 1,500 years. The conference's setting in this landscape of living craft tradition provided a resonant context for the exhibition and award ceremony, connecting contemporary international practitioners with the deep material roots of the medium they have adopted.
The 2024 IMC Americas exhibition, in which Spitzack participated, showcased the breadth and depth of mokuhanga practice across North and South America. The exhibition represented a community that has grown substantially since the first IMC in 2011, when American participants were relatively few. By 2024, the Americas contingent had become one of the largest regional groups, reflecting the establishment of mokuhanga workshops, study groups, and teaching programs across the United States.
Spitzack's work contributes to the ongoing dialogue between Eastern and Western approaches to printmaking that defines contemporary mokuhanga. His prints reflect both the technical precision of the traditional Japanese process and the visual sensibilities of an artist shaped by Western art education and cultural context, creating work that belongs fully to neither tradition alone but to the emerging international language of contemporary woodblock printing.
The recognition he received at the 2024 conference underscores the maturity of the American mokuhanga community, which has progressed from early tentative engagements with the technique to producing work that can stand alongside pieces from Japan and from other countries with longer histories of mokuhanga practice. Spitzack's award represents not only personal achievement but the broader coming of age of water-based woodblock printing in the United States.
Key Facts
- Nationality
- 🇺🇸United States
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
Frequently Asked Questions
Charles Spitzack is an American mokuhanga artist who has distinguished himself through both his creative work and his recognition within the international mokuhanga community. Based in the United States, he received an award at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference in Echizen, Japan, placing him among a select group of artists whose work was singled out for excellence from among hundreds of international submissions.
Charles Spitzack's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.
Charles Spitzack's prints frequently feature trees, birds & flowers, seascapes, boats & ships, moonlight, cats.
Charles Spitzack is a contemporary printmaker working in the mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock) tradition. Recognition through awards and exhibitions supports growing collector interest. Prices for contemporary mokuhanga prints range from $150 for smaller works to $2,000 for major compositions. Most prints sell in the $240–$800 range. The global mokuhanga community has been growing, with increasing exhibition opportunities and collector interest. Contemporary mokuhanga represents an affordable entry point for collectors.