Calligraphy

Calligraphy (from Greek κάλλος kallos "beauty" + γραφή graphẽ "writing") is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of writing (Mediavilla 1996: 17). A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner" (Mediavilla 1996: 18). The story of writing is one of aesthetic evolution framed within the technical skills, transmission speed(s) and materials limitations of a person, time and place (Diringer 1968: 441). A style of writing is described as a script, hand or alphabet (Fraser and Kwiatkowski 2006; Johnston 1909: Plate 6).

Modern calligraphy ranges from functional hand lettered inscriptions and designs to fine art pieces where the abstract expression of the handwritten mark may or may not supersede the legibility of the letters (Mediavilla 1996). Classical calligraphy differs from typography and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may create all of these; characters are historically disciplined yet fluid and spontaneous, improvised at the moment of writing (Pott 2006 and 2005; Zapf 2007 and 2006).

Calligraphy continues to flourish in the forms of wedding and event invitations, font design/typography, original hand-lettered logo design, religious art, announcements/graphic design/commissioned calligraphic art, cut stone inscriptions and memorial documents. It is also used for props and moving images for film and television, testimonials, birth and death certificates/maps, and other works involving writing (see for example Letter Arts Review; Propfe 2005; Geddes and Dion 2004).

External links

Western Calligraphy

• Cynscribe World Wide Web Calligraphy Directory
• Society of Scribes, New York City, NY, US
• Society of Scribes and Illuminators, London, England
• International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting, Webster, NY, US
• Kaligrafos - The Dallas Calligraphy Society Promoting the calligraphic arts
• New Zealand Calligraphers A national network of affiliated calligraphy guilds
• The Edward Johnston Foundation - Research centre for calligraphy
• The Teachers Guide to Calligraphy - photocopiable masters for curriculum usage
• Victoria and Albert Museum [1]
• Alcuino - Association for the Recovery of Ancient Calligraphy Association ALCUINO, España

Islamic calligraphy

• Calligraphy Islamic - Islamic Calligraphy
• Gallery of Arabic calligraphy - National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education
• Samples of Islamic calligraphy
• Islamic Calligraphy in the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

Calligraphy of other scripts

• Persian: PersianCalligraphy.org
• Mongolian: Inkway Calligraphy
• Nepali: The first website on Nepali Calligraphy - Calligraphy
• Tibetan: History and reproductions of Tibetan Calligraphy
• Tibetan: Tibetan Calligraphy - How to write the script.