INTRODUCTION
The word ‘calligraphy’ is a combination of two Greek words: kallos (beauty) and graphein (to write).
Calligraphy is the art of forming beautiful symbols by hand and arranging them well.
It’s a set of skills and techniques for positioning and inscribing words so they show integrity, harmony, some sort of ancestry, rhythm and creative fire.
Calligraphy has existed in many cultures, including Indian, Persian, and Islamic cultures; Arabic puts a particularly high value on beautiful script, and in East Asia calligraphy has long been considered a major art. Calligraphers in the West use pens with wide nibs, with which they produce strokes of widely differing width within a single letter.
HISTORY
From the moment the first quill hit the first piece of parchment, humans have been looking for the most beautiful and decorative way to present their writing.
From holy texts to royal decrees, Chaucer to Shakespeare and Greek to Latin, all writing was passed down from generation to generation – strange to think about in this technological age!
It is estimated that the Romans were the first to really bring calligraphy to the masses – you only have to take a look at many of the statues throughout Italy or Roman remains in the UK to see the strikingly beautiful lettering that they painstakingly carved. They did also write in this style!
Arabic
Arabic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy based on the Arabic alphabet. It is known in Arabic as khatt (Arabic: خط), derived from the word 'line', 'design', or 'construction'.Kufic is the oldest form of the Arabic script.
East Asian
As an artistic genre, brush calligraphy holds a central place in the cultural history in East Asia. The form of the characters used in the Chinese writing system—as well as the other writing systems that were derived from it— have long held a place of special regard in the aesthetic traditions of the region. Brush calligraphy has historically been ubiquitous in the visual culture of China, Japan, and Korea, either as a complement to another kind of image (perhaps a landscape painting or part of an illustrated book) or as a work of art in its own right; consequently, it is central to the study of East Asian art history.
Greek
It may be surprising to know that the printed Greek found in textbooks and Greek New Testaments looks considerably different than the Greek penned by scribes more than a millennium ago. This handwritten Greek was produced in two stages and two distinctly different forms. These forms are known today as “majuscule” and “minuscule“.
Indic
Indic writing first appeared in the 3rd century BCE during the reign of Ashoka (c. 265–238 BCE). The leader of a great empire, Ashoka turned from military success to embrace the arts and religion. Ashoka’s edicts were committed to stone. These inscriptions are stiff and angular in form. Following the Ashoka style of Indic writing, two new calligraphic types appear: Kharoshti and Brahmi. Kharoshti was used in the northwestern regions of India from the 3rd century BCE to the 4th century CE, and it was used in Central Asia until the 8th century. It is characterized by a vigorous pen letter, reflecting the influence of Middle Eastern calligraphy.
Western
The historiography of Western calligraphy is very closely associated with Romans and Athens-The two great ancient powers of the Western world. They developed the first scripts that was easy to use. With time, the Romans also started to get creative with their alphabet and script, using a more cursive style of writing. However, their letters were still clearer and simpler to read, compared to the Christian monks who used more complex style of writing to decorate the Bible.