Number 70

"Number 70" belongs to the phase of Maki Haku's work in which he used simple sequential numbering as his titling system — a deliberately neutral approach that refuses to guide interpretation through evocative language. The number-titled works demand that the print justify itself entirely through visual means, without the supplementary meaning a poetic or referential title provides. This was consistent with his engagement with international abstract art discourse, in which "Number 70" could stand alongside any Kline or Rothko.