b'After receiving an honorable discharge from the Army in September 1958,deep repercussions in Makuuchis life and established a pattern of defiance that Howard enrolled in the University of Colorado Boulder and almost immediatelyboth propelled his art and worked against its recognition. began to focus on art, taking at least three to four courses per semester. His University of Colorado transcript notes that Howard Munio Takahashi legallyIt was at the University of Colorado that Makuuchi first encountered printmaking, changed his name to Munio Makuuchi in December 1959. Makuuchis reasonsstudying with the engraver Wendell Black. Blacks support was crucial, and for this decision have been described as a protest against his fathers machohis encouragement undoubtedly led the young artist to adopt printmaking, Hemingway samurai negativity 30and as a way to distance himself from his pastspecifically intaglio printmaking, as his primary form of expression. Black had experiences at Minidoka. 31It may also have been a way for the young artist tojoined the University of Colorado faculty in 1948 after receiving an MA in assert his independence and signal a new chapter of life.printmaking at the University of Iowa. While there, he studied with the highly influential Argentine-born professor Mauricio Lasansky, who was hired in While John Takahashi initially was not supportive of his sons decision to study1946 specifically to develop what would become a nationally recognized print-art, he later penned an advice-filled manuscript called Road Signs for the Truemaking program. Many of the newly emergent print departments at American Artist, in which he laid out a philosophy of art making for Makuuchis edification.universities were staffed by former Lasansky students, like Black, who spread In this document, he cautions his son against idleness, observing you do ratherLanskys teaching philosophy, which focused on individual development to taking easy going roads [sic], and extols the virtues of inspiration from concreteachieve complete union of the artist and the plate. 34nature, stating, Without nature, your arts have no future. 32Despite Makuuchis personal struggles with his father, and his later explorations of surreal andBlack was a master engraver, an expert in a demanding linear process that abstract images, it is notable that the human figure remained a strong part ofinvolves carving deep lines into a metal plate. He learned this skill from his artistic practice. The fact that he kept this and other manuscripts by hisLasansky, who learned it from Stanley William Hayter, the English chemist/artist/father and referred to them in his poetry is a clear indication of John Takahashisprintmaker often credited with resuscitating engraving for the modern age. lingering influence on Makuuchis creative work. While on a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1943, Lasansky had spent time at Atelier 17, Hayters famed printmaking shop, which temporarily moved from Paris to Makuuchi, as the child of both an Issei and a Nisei, was simultaneously second-New York during the war years. While there, he participated in an open, interna-and third-generation. Makuuchi stated that this conflict between old country andtional, and intergenerational workshop setting and was exposed to the cutting new country values was a strong factor in his discordant relationship with hisedge of technical innovation in intaglio printmaking. At the time, Atelier 17 father. 33In his later poems he refers to himself as Sansei (third-generation) onwas associated with The New School for Social Research, which had a strong several occasions; however, I would argue that prior to his fathers death in 1970,program in psychology. In his own work and in that of a number of Surrealist Makuuchi exhibited characteristics of both Nisei and Sansei.artists who worked at the shop during the war, Hayter had already investigated automatic drawing, the Surrealist principle by which the unconscious is allowed The strong desire to assimilate is often seen as a distinctive characteristic ofto express itself visually through processes of chance. 35In addition to furthering second-generation immigrants. Partly for that reason, formerly incarceratedhis study of intaglio, Lasansky also set out to analyze the print collection of the Nisei were typically close-mouthed about their camp experiences. MakuuchisMetropolitan Museum of Art. Lasansky brought these formative experiences actions up to the point of his accident display patterns of a dutiful son: histo his teaching in Iowa, which was based on technical mastery in the service of involvement in the Lutheran church, attendance at Concordia and Valparaiso,free experimentation. 36and military service. Despite normal teenaged filial tensions, it appears that Makuuchi conformed to his fathers wishes. After the accident, however, heLasansky began his career in Iowa during a vital time in printmaking. As veterans began to display a more defiant attitude by embarking on the study of art andreturned from the war and sought to further their educations, there was a rapid changing his name. This pattern deepened as he pursued his professionalexpansion of university art departments. One of Lasanskys pedagogical goals artistic career. In addition to the presumed ill effects of his injury, there waswas to inspire his students, like Black, to hone their skills as professional artists, also a strong underlying conflict left over from his camp experience, whichthus preparing them to teach at the university level. Makuuchis engagement remained largely sublimated until his fathers death in 1970. This situation hadwith this mode of thinking and working, which would form a thread throughout 24 25'