In a recent visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) I visited the Japanese Galleries. There was a calligraphic hanging that depicted the Japanese word for dragon. The character evoked the picture of a dragon in abstract form. About 30 feet away I found a slightly more recent (but by no means modern) hanging that included a painting of a dragon. Its resemblance to the pictogram was remarkable, but the older work concentrated the essence of “dragon” in aesthetic purity.
Such Japanese paintings are derived from Chinese calligraphy. Both are beautiful. I have a print of the Chinese character for “Chaos.” It is both beautiful and arresting. The simplicity and elegance of the character is emphasized by its isolation. Only the “chop” of the artist and a brief meaning of the term, both placed at the bottom on the page, share the creamy purity of the page. I prefer the austerity of a single character over a shared work that includes a nature scene along with a character or short poem.
LACMA provided me with other remarkable examples in the Islamic Art section. Most of the calligraphic examples featured excerpts from the Koran, beautifully rendered. Islamic writing is artistic, fluid, and, yet, highly controlled. I was especially struck by one of the smaller examples that demonstrated a sublime austerity in its intensity. It is said that Islamic calligraphy became so beautiful because the religion forbids the depiction of human form. There were a number of Iranian paintings of people, animals, and flowers however. Perhaps these were older works, not prohibited at the time they were created. It was the calligraphy that captured my imagination.
My interest in seeing more examples of artistic calligraphy led me to GOOGLE. I encourage you to type “calligraphy as art” in the search box of the Images section at the top of the home page. You will be rewarded with all sorts of examples. There was a lovely Hebrew work whose composition of letters for a marriage became a beautiful painting in its own right. There were many examples of Japanese, Chinese, and Islamic works of art.
I discount ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, cave paintings, and runes. The hieroglyphics are too regimented. There is no fire or artistic creativity in their creation. Cave painting figures fail to fulfill my desire for calligraphic pictograms and/or letters. Runes are crude.
European/American sixteenth through the twentieth century penmanship, much of which can be considered beautiful, was focused on communication. Few examples of artistic calligraphy can be credited, in part because western penmanship is not based on pictograms, ideograms, or characters in the oriental sense. John Hancock’s famous signature is lovely, but not quite up to the mark at LACMA. A charming attempt at calligraphic art can be seen in the concrete poem. This type of poetry attempts to take the shape of the topic covered in the poem. GOOGLE’s Images will display several of these. It is different from the masterpieces I’ve seen but—give it credit—the concrete poem is clever and can be attractive to the eye.
Why should one bother to seek out examples of calligraphy as art? They are beautiful. And rare. Calligraphy is a dying art; its modern counterpart, cursive handwriting, is threatened. I read recently that the teaching of cursive is in decline in our schools. ‘Who needs it?’ is the cry to educators who believe this brain/hand skill is no longer necessary in our electronic era. The Palmer method has become anachronistic. Whatever will the graphologists analyze? Keyboards are the way of the future according to the latest thinking. Fluidity, personal style and individual expression give way to a plethora of computer fonts. The parsimony of utility will soon obliterate the lavish, the lovely, and the elegance of art. Oh Brave New World!
Such Japanese paintings are derived from Chinese calligraphy. Both are beautiful. I have a print of the Chinese character for “Chaos.” It is both beautiful and arresting. The simplicity and elegance of the character is emphasized by its isolation. Only the “chop” of the artist and a brief meaning of the term, both placed at the bottom on the page, share the creamy purity of the page. I prefer the austerity of a single character over a shared work that includes a nature scene along with a character or short poem.
LACMA provided me with other remarkable examples in the Islamic Art section. Most of the calligraphic examples featured excerpts from the Koran, beautifully rendered. Islamic writing is artistic, fluid, and, yet, highly controlled. I was especially struck by one of the smaller examples that demonstrated a sublime austerity in its intensity. It is said that Islamic calligraphy became so beautiful because the religion forbids the depiction of human form. There were a number of Iranian paintings of people, animals, and flowers however. Perhaps these were older works, not prohibited at the time they were created. It was the calligraphy that captured my imagination.
My interest in seeing more examples of artistic calligraphy led me to GOOGLE. I encourage you to type “calligraphy as art” in the search box of the Images section at the top of the home page. You will be rewarded with all sorts of examples. There was a lovely Hebrew work whose composition of letters for a marriage became a beautiful painting in its own right. There were many examples of Japanese, Chinese, and Islamic works of art.
I discount ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, cave paintings, and runes. The hieroglyphics are too regimented. There is no fire or artistic creativity in their creation. Cave painting figures fail to fulfill my desire for calligraphic pictograms and/or letters. Runes are crude.
European/American sixteenth through the twentieth century penmanship, much of which can be considered beautiful, was focused on communication. Few examples of artistic calligraphy can be credited, in part because western penmanship is not based on pictograms, ideograms, or characters in the oriental sense. John Hancock’s famous signature is lovely, but not quite up to the mark at LACMA. A charming attempt at calligraphic art can be seen in the concrete poem. This type of poetry attempts to take the shape of the topic covered in the poem. GOOGLE’s Images will display several of these. It is different from the masterpieces I’ve seen but—give it credit—the concrete poem is clever and can be attractive to the eye.
Why should one bother to seek out examples of calligraphy as art? They are beautiful. And rare. Calligraphy is a dying art; its modern counterpart, cursive handwriting, is threatened. I read recently that the teaching of cursive is in decline in our schools. ‘Who needs it?’ is the cry to educators who believe this brain/hand skill is no longer necessary in our electronic era. The Palmer method has become anachronistic. Whatever will the graphologists analyze? Keyboards are the way of the future according to the latest thinking. Fluidity, personal style and individual expression give way to a plethora of computer fonts. The parsimony of utility will soon obliterate the lavish, the lovely, and the elegance of art. Oh Brave New World!
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