Encyclopedia
Calligraphy is the art of beautiful
writing. A style of calligraphy is described as a
hand or
alphabet.
Calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and hand lettering to fine art pieces where the expression of the handwritten mark may take precedence over the legibility of the letters. Well-crafted calligraphy differs from
typography; characters are fluid and spontaneous, improvised at the moment of writing.
Calligraphy continues to display itself in the form of wedding and event invitations, maps, and other works involving writing. Some of today's calligraphy has little to do with the artistic discipline of each character, but instead is simply good penmanship that attracts attention and has a style of its own.
East Asian calligraphy
East Asian calligraphy typically uses
ink brushes to write
Chinese characters . Calligraphy is considered an important art in
East Asia and the most refined form of East Asian
painting.
In addition to being an artform in its own right, calligraphy has also influenced
ink and wash painting, which is accomplished using similar tools and techniques. Calligraphy has influenced most major art styles in
East Asia, including
sumi-e, a style of
Chinese and Japanese painting based entirely on calligraphy.
Indian Calligraphy
There are many excellent examples of Indian calligraphy, mostly with religious influences. The development of a sophisticated ancient society, combined with a lack of modern printing technology resulted in a rich heritage of calligraphy, in almost all of the dozens of prominent Indian languages.
In particular, the
Sikh religion provides a rich collection. The holy book of the Sikhs has been traditionally handwritten and illuminated examples abound, although poor preservation and constant use is a constant threat.
Tibetan Calligraphy
Calligraphy is central in
Tibetan culture. The script bears a resemblance to the
Sanskrit script, and is rumored to be a descendant of it. As in
China, the nobles of Tibet, such as the High
Lamas and inhabitants of the
Potala Palace, were usually capable calligraphers.
Tibet has been a center of
Buddhism for several centuries, and that religion places a great deal of significance on written word. This, however, does not give us a large body of secular pieces, although they do exist . Almost all high religious writing involved calligraphy, including letters sent by
His Holiness, the Oracle of the
Potala Palace, and other religious, and secular, authority. Calligraphy is particularly evident on their
prayer wheels, although this calligraphy was forged rather than scribed, much like Arab and Roman calligraphy is often found on buildings. Although originally done with a brush, Tibetan calligraphers now, as is often the case with non-Western scripts, use chisel tipped pens and markers as well, both in practice and pieces.
Islamic calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy is an aspect of
Islamic art that has evolved alongside the
religion of
Islam and the
Arabic language.
Arabic/Persian calligraphy is associated with geometric
Islamic art on the walls and ceilings of
mosques as well as on the page. Contemporary artists in the
Islamic world draw on the heritage of calligraphy to use calligraphic inscriptions or abstractions in their work.
Instead of recalling something related to the reality of the spoken word, calligraphy for
Muslims is a visible expression of the highest art of all, the art of the spiritual world. Calligraphy has arguably become the most venerated form of Islamic art because it provides a link between the languages of the Muslims with the religion of Islam. The
holy book of Islam, al-
Qur'an, has played an important role in the development and evolution of the Arabic language, and by extension, calligraphy in the Arabic alphabet. Proverbs and complete passages from the Qur'an are still active sources for Islamic calligraphy.
There was a strong parallel tradition to that of the Islamic, among
Aramaic and
Hebrew scholars, seen in such works as the Hebrew illuminated bibles of the 9th and 10th centuries.
See also:Western calligraphy
Western calligraphy is the calligraphy of the Latin writing system, and to a lesser degree the
Greek and
Cyrillic writing systems. Early alphabets had evolved by about 3000 BC. From the Etruscan alphabet evolved the Latin alphabet. Capital letters emerged first, followed by the invention of lower case letters in the Carolingian period.
Long, heavy rolls of
papyrus were replaced by the Romans with the first books, initially simply folded pages of parchment made from animal skins.
Reed pens were replaced by
quill pens.
Christianity gave a boost to the development of writing through the prolific copying of the Bible, particularly the New Testament and other sacred texts.
Uncial letters were used by monks in
Ireland,
Scotland, and other places on the Celtic fringes of Europe, hence the name "Insular style" for this type of writing. The
7th-9th Century in northern Europe was the heyday of the illuminated manuscript, exemplified by the
Lindisfarne Gospels and the "zenith of Western calligraphy", the
Book of Kells.
Charlemagne helped the spread of beautiful writing by bringing
Alcuin, the Abbot of
York, to his capital of
Aachen. Alcuin undertook a major revision of all styles of script and all texts. He then developed a new "hand" named after his patron Charlemagne: "
Carolingian minuscule style".
Blackletter followed in the 12th century, and
Italy contributed Chancery and Italic scripts. Italic is somewhat of a historical aberration, as it was invented after Gutenberg's revolutionary device.
What followed was the heyday of the
illuminated manuscript.
Hand-written and hand-decorated books became less common after the invention of
printing by
Johann Gutenberg in the 15th century. However, at the end of the 19th century,
William Morris and the
Arts and Crafts Movement rediscovered and popularised calligraphy. Many famous calligraphers were influenced by Morris, especially Edward Johnston and Eric Gill.
There are many calligraphic typefaces such as
Blackletter , Lombardis,
Uncial,
Italic, and Roundhand.
Copperplate is name of a style of calligraphic writing, using a sharp pointed nib instead of the flat nib used in most calligraphic writing. The name comes from the sharp lines of the writing style resembling the etches of engraved copper. The Copperplate typeface attempts to emulate copper engraved letters.
Copperplate obtains its name from the copybooks of the 18th and 19th centures, which were created by the engraving of copper printing plates using a transferred ink original. Students worked strenuously to copy these works, although an exact copy could never be obtained, because the works were created originally from the chiselling of copper plates.
Calligraphy continues to be applied today in graphic design, logo design, maps, menus, greeting cards, invitations, legal documents, diplomas, unfortunately forgery, poetry, bussiness cards, in hand made presentations, and numerous other places. Calligraphers find their "bread and butter" work in the addressing of calligraphic envelopes and invitations for weddings and large parties. Digital type design facilitates the making of calligraphic fonts by calligraphers, thousands are now in use particularly by greeting card companies such as Hallmark and American Greetings. Some important calligraphers of the twentieth century are Arthur Baker and Hermann Zapf.
In the late twentieth century some calligraphers broke free of the functional task of transcription and began to place more emphasis on expression than legibility. Written forms have become more abstract for these artists and are incorporated into works which have as much affinity to contemporary painting as to ancient manuscript writing. At the same time, the multi-million dollar Saint John's illuminated Bible project for the 21st century was conceived by Donald Jackson and is nearing completion. It is the most substantial illuminated Bible in 500 years executed with both ancient and modern tools and techniques. Notable calligraphers who have carried the calligraphic art into the twenty-first century include Donald Jackson, Thomas Ingmire, Hazel Dolby, Julian Waters, Sheila Waters, Denis Brown, and Brody Neuenschwander.
Tools
The principal tools for a calligrapher are the
pen, which may be flat- or round-nibbed and the
brush. For some decorative purposes, multi-nibbed pens — steel brushes — can be used. However, works have also been made with
felt-tip and
ballpoint pens, although these works do not employ angled lines. Ink for writing is usually water-based and much less viscous than the oil based inks used in printing. High quality paper, which has good consistency of porousness, will enable cleaner lines, although parchment or
vellum is often used, as a knife can be used to erase work on them and a light box is not needed to allow lines to pass through it. In addition, light boxes and templates are often used in order to achieve straight lines without pencil markings detracting from the work. Lined paper, either for a light box or direct use, is most often lined every quarter or half inch, although inch spaces are occasionally used, such as with
litterea unciales , and college ruled paper acts as a guideline often as well.
See also
Writing was always done in one of three ways: writing
between guidelines; writing
up-against guidelines; and writing
on guidelines. The actual guidelines are there on manuscript pages and almost always appear on the pin pricks in the margins, but sometimes the actual inscribed lines can be seen in the margins after they have disappeared elsewhere on the page.
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