Biography
Eva Pietzcker is a Berlin-based printmaker whose discovery of mokuhanga transformed her artistic practice and established her as one of Europe's most respected practitioners of Japanese woodblock printing. Born in Tubingen in 1966, she studied fine arts at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Nuremberg from 1987 to 1992, and subsequently at the Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin.
Pietzcker initially worked in etching and screenprinting before finding her definitive medium in Japanese woodblock printmaking. In 2003, she traveled to China to research traditional Chinese woodblocks, and in the same year participated in the Nagasawa Art Park Program in Japan, where she studied mokuhanga under skilled instructors. In 2004, she returned to Japan as an artist-in-residence in Tsuna-town, where she trained in traditional Japanese papermaking, deepening her understanding of the material foundations of the medium.
In 2001, Pietzcker co-founded the printmaking studio 'druckstelle' in Berlin with her partner Miriam Zegrer, establishing it as a center for research into and teaching of printmaking techniques. The studio has become a significant resource for printmakers across Germany and Europe, offering courses in mokuhanga and other traditional and contemporary printing methods.
Pietzcker's prints begin as plein air impressions rendered in sumi-e ink sketches gathered during extensive travels, most frequently around the Baltic Sea, the Rhine River, Crete, Ontario, and her home city of Berlin. Her moku hanga woodblocks are celebrated for their atmospheric sensitivity, capturing the subtlety of the natural world through translucent layers of water-based pigment on washi paper. Landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, Germany, and Japan recur throughout her body of work, with particular attention to the textures of grasses fading into sand and stones dissolving into mist.
Her work has been exhibited internationally and is represented in the United States by Davidson Galleries in Seattle. She teaches printmaking at her studio and at several art academies across Germany.
Key Facts
- Nationality
- 🇩🇪Germany
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
Frequently Asked Questions
Eva Pietzcker is a Berlin-based printmaker whose discovery of mokuhanga transformed her artistic practice and established her as one of Europe's most respected practitioners of Japanese woodblock printing. Born in Tubingen in 1966, she studied fine arts at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Nuremberg from 1987 to 1992, and subsequently at the Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin.
Eva Pietzcker'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.
Eva Pietzcker's prints frequently feature rivers & lakes, spring, winter, seascapes, summer, night scenes.
Eva Pietzcker is a contemporary printmaker working in the mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock) tradition. Their work contributes to the living tradition of Japanese woodblock printing. Prices for contemporary mokuhanga prints range from $100 for smaller works to $1,500 for major compositions. Most prints sell in the $180–$600 range. The global mokuhanga community has been growing, with increasing exhibition opportunities and collector interest. Contemporary mokuhanga represents an affordable entry point for collectors.