parrot spitzack woodblock woodcut mokuhanga print printmaking washi seattle art

A parrot is an unusual subject for mokuhanga, which traditionally depicted Japanese birds in the kacho-e tradition — herons, sparrows, kingfishers, the small wild birds that populate Japanese gardens and waterways. Spitzack's choice of a parrot, a tropical bird associated with elsewhere, marks the print as part of contemporary mokuhanga's expanded subject matter rather than a continuation of the classical bird-and-flower repertoire. Parrots are well-suited to the medium: their saturated greens, reds, blues, and yellows take advantage of the layered color registration that defines nishiki-e, the multi-block color printing technique that transformed Japanese printmaking in the eighteenth century. Each color in such a print typically requires a separately carved block, making a parrot a technically ambitious subject. Spitzack's recognition at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference in Echizen was given for sustained engagement with the medium, of which this print, demonstrating multi-block color registration on washi, would form part.