What Is Calligraphy

Calligraphy (from Greek καλλι calli "beauty" + γραφος graphos "writing") is the art of decorative writing. A style of calligraphy is described as a hand.

Calligraphy should be distinguished from the studies of epigraphy or palaeography. The study of permanent inscriptions engraved in metal or chiselled into stone and the forms of letters used in them is called epigraphy. Epigraphy is a branch of the broader study of ancient handwriting in more general terms, called palaeography. Examples of ancient Roman graffiti are of interest to both calligraphers and palaeographers.

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 Greek alphabet evolved the Latin alphabet. Capital letters were developed first and lower case letters were invented considerably later.

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 and other sacred texts. Uncial letters were used by monks in Ireland, Scotland, and other places, hence the name "Insular style" for this type of writing. This was also the heyday of the illuminated manuscript.

Charlemagne made a big difference to 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".

The Fraktur followed in the 11th century, and Italy contributed Chancery and Italic scripts. 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 popularized calligraphy. Many famous calligraphers were influenced by Morris, especially Edward Johnston, Eric Gill and others.

Some important contemporary calligraphers are Arthur Baker and Hermann Zapf. As handwritten forms of communication have become more rare, calligraphy is often reserved for special occasions and events, most notably the addressing of wedding invitations and announcements. However, graffiti-style lettering, a dramatic, angular, block hand, has become common in various media since the 1970s. Graffiti is especially associated with hip-hop, being one of its "four elements".

In the United Kingdom many calligraphers belong to the Society of Scribes and Illuminators, which provides training and development to members.

Chinese and East Asian Calligraphy

Calligraphy is an art dating back to the earliest day of history, and widely practiced throughout China to this day. Although it uses Chinese words as its vehicle of expression, one does not have to know Chinese to appreciate its beauty. Because in essence, Calligraphy is an abstract art.

Japanese calligraphy (sho in Japanese) attempts to bring words to life, and endow them with character. Styles are highly individualistic, differing from person to person. Calligraphy began to filter into Japan during the seventh century A.D. Buddhism from India had traveled via China and Korea and was making many converts in Japan, including the Emperors. Buddhist scriptures were recorded in Chinese writing. This was produced by priests and was aesthetically very pleasing. The most famous Japanese calligrapher was probably the Buddhist monk Kukai.

East Asian calligraphy typically uses ink brushes to write Chinese characters (called Hanzi in Chinese, Kanji in Japanese, and Hanja in Korean). Calligraphy (in Chinese, Shufa 書法, in Japanese Shodō 書道, in Korean, Seoyae 書藝, or "the way of writing") is considered an important art in East Asia and the most refined form of East Asian painting.

Over the thousands of years, the style of Chinese calligraphy has evolved continually. About 213 B.C., under the famous Chin Shih Huang Ti, who perpetrated the 'burning of the books', the Prime Minister Li Szu drew up an official index of characters and unified the written form for the use of scholars. This is chuan-shu and contained more than 3,000 characters. From that time to the present, there are five major styles of calligraphy.

(The Japanese calls these tensho (seal style), reisho (scribe's style), kaisho (block style), gyosho (semi-cursive style), and sosho (cursive style, literally "grass writingstyles"). It is remarkable that after two thousand years, all five styles of writings are still in use today.In to these the Japanese developed the kana characters during the eighth century, characters that express sounds in contrast to characters used ideographically. Three types of kana have been developed, manyogana, hiragana, and katakana. The manyogana are certain chinese characters (kanji) used phonetically to represent the syllables of Japanese, and are named after the eighth century poetry collection Manyoshu. At the time this collection was compiled the Japanese had no writing system of their own. Some of the Japanese poems were rendered in Chinese characters used phonetically, and in others the Chinese characters were used sometimes phonetically and sometimes ideographically. Out of this, by way of drastic simplification, came hiragana and katakana. In the hands of Japanese noblewomen, hiragana developed into a beautiful script which is the unique calligraphic style of Japan.

Calligraphy has influenced most major art styles in East Asia, including sumi-e, a style of Japanese painting using Indian ink. The Japanese phonetic script hiragana was derived from cursive representations of kanji, and basic calligraphy instruction is still common in Japanese lower education.

Middle Eastern Calligraphy

The North Arabic script, which was influenced by the Nabatian script, was established in north-eastern Arabia and flourished in the 5 th century among the Arabian tribes who inhabited Hirah and Anbar. It spread to Hijaz in western Arabia, and its use was popularized among the aristocracy of Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad, by Harb ibn Ummayyah.

Although early Arabic sources mention several calligraphic styles in reference to the cities in which they were used, they generally fit into two broad categories with some minor variations, these are the "dry styles," the early predecessors of Kufic, and the "moist styles," the early predecessors of the cursive family or scripts.

Cursive scripts coexisted with Kufic and date back to before Islam, but because in the early stages of their development they lacked discipline and elegance, they were usually used for secular purposes only.

Under the Ummayads and Abbasids, court requirements for correspondence and record keeping resulted in many developments to the cursive scripts, and several styles were devised to fulfill these needs. Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn Muqlah (d. 940), along with his brother, became accomplished calligraphers in Baghdad in an early age. Abu Ali became a Wazir to three Abbasid caliphs, and is credited with developing the first script to obey strict proportional rules. His system utilized the dot as a measuring unit for line proportions, and a circle with a diameter equals to the Alef's height as a measuring unit for letter proportions.

Ibn Muqlah's system became a powerful tool in the development and standardization of cursive scripts, and his calligraphic work elevated the previous cursive styles into a place of prominence, and made them acceptable as worthy of writing the Quran.

Arabic calligraphy is often displayed in Muslim art, because it serves as an inspiration. The practice of calligraphy is a topic of much Islamic philosophy. When used decoratively, the writing is so ornate and complex as to be almost unreadable. Calligraphy grew in part because of religious restrictions on representational art.

Ink brushes (in Japanese fude) are specialty brushes used in East Asian calligraphy. They are also used in Japanese brush painting (sumi-e), an art that developed entirely from calligraphy.筆, in Japanese fude) are specialty brushes used in East Asian calligraphy. They are also used in Japanese brush painting (sumi-e), an art that developed entirely from calligraphy.筆, in Japanese fude) are specialty brushes used in East Asian calligraphy. They are also used in Japanese brush painting (sumi-e), an art that developed entirely from calligraphy.

The best quality ink brushes are made of bamboo and animal hair. Synthetic brushes are rarely if ever used as bamboo and animal hair brushes are considered the best, and most are reasonably priced ranging from US$5 to US$150.

While a variety of sizes is available, most brushes fall into three general categories: small, medium and large. The smallest brushes are used for very small pieces and to sign works. Medium brushes are the most widely used; wielded by a skilled artist a medium brush can produce a variety of thicknesses of line, from very thin to fairly thick. The largest brushes are used only for very large pieces.

Indian Ink (or "India ink" in American English) is a simple black ink once widely used for writing and printing.

Early treatises on the arts refer to black carbon ink that was prepared by the ancient Chinese and Egyptians. The basis of the ink was a black carbon pigment in an aqueous glue or binding medium. Sometime before the 12th century, Eraclius, in his De Coloribus et Artibus Romanorum, presented a set of directions for making several types of carbon inks, including one similar to the Indian ink of China, made from the soot of burning resin or wood. Different types of wood will create different-colored inks. In an English volume on handwriting of 1581, Theophilus presented a recipe for a carbon ink:
To make Inke in haste.
In hast, for a shift when ye have a great neede,
Take woll, or wollen to stand you in steede,
Which burnt in the fyre, the powder beate small:
With vinegar, or water make Inke withall.