Untitled

This untitled woodblock print by Manfred Egger participated in the 2021 IMC juried exhibition in Nara, an event whose [sumi](/glossary/sumi)-focused theme drew together artists working with the historical material core of East Asian ink practice. Mokuhanga differs from Western woodcut in its use of water-based pigment, hand-pressed with a [baren](/glossary/baren), and absorbent [kozo](/glossary/kozo)-fiber [washi](/glossary/washi)—a combination that produces effects of saturation, transparency, and grain unavailable to oil-based relief printing. Untitled compositions in this medium often pursue abstraction or quasi-landscape forms where the physical traces of carving, registration, and printing are themselves the subject. The 2021 conference brought practitioners from across Europe, the Americas, and Asia into shared exhibition space, reinforcing mokuhanga's status as a contemporary international medium rather than a strictly Japanese heritage craft. Egger represents Austria within this network, and his selection for the juried show reflects a peer review by curators and senior artists committed to the technique's continued development outside its country of origin.