Untitled

A second untitled mokuhanga by Austrian artist Manfred Egger, produced within the same body of work that gained him selection to the 2021 International Mokuhanga Conference exhibition in Nara. The decision to leave a print untitled is a recurring choice in contemporary mokuhanga, particularly among European and North American practitioners working outside the [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) or [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) conventions of historical Japanese printmaking; it shifts attention from subject identification toward the printed surface itself. Technical concerns in such work typically include the layering of pigment-loaded brushstrokes onto dampened [washi](/glossary/washi), the controlled migration of water across the paper fiber, and the registration of multiple blocks to build tonal or chromatic complexity. The 2021 IMC theme of [sumi](/glossary/sumi) foregrounded black ink as both material and conceptual subject, encouraging entrants to explore monochromatic range rather than polychrome [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) effects. Egger's participation alongside printmakers from across the global mokuhanga community reflects the technique's expansion well beyond its Edo-period origins, and his Austrian base represents one node in the ongoing transmission of mokuhanga practice through workshops, residencies, and the IMC itself.