Writing as
an art.
The term derives from the Greek words for "good" or
"beautiful" and for "writing" or "drawing" and
refers to what masters called the art of fair writing. It imples a sure
knowledge of the correct form of letters--i.e., the conventional signs
by which language can be communicated--and the skill to inscribe them with such
ordering of the various parts and harmony of proportions that the cultivated,
knowing eye will recognize the compositions as a work of art.
In
East Asia, calligraphy by long and exacting tradition is considered a major
art, equal to painting. In Western culture the simpler Greek and Latin-derived
alphabets and the spread of literacy tend to make handwriting theoretically
"everybody's art," although in a few instances, especially since the
Renaissance, it has either aspired to or attained the status of calligraphy.
East Asian calligraphy
In China, Korea, and Japan, calligraphy is a form of
pure art. Chinese, Korean, and Japanese calligraphy derive from the written
form of the Chinese language. Chinese is not an alphabetical language; each
character is composed of a number of differently shaped lines within an
imaginary square. The early Chinese written words, like the Egyptian
hieroglyphs, were pictorial images, though not so close to the objects they
represented as in the ancient Egyptian writing. Rather, they were simplified
images, indicating meaning through suggestion or imagination. These simple
images were flexible in composition, capable of developing with changing
conditions by means of slight variations.
Chinese calligraphy
The earliest known Chinese logographs are engraved on
the shoulder bones of large animals and on tortoise shells. The piece
illustrated contains a number of the early ideographs; each seems to have been
carefully composed before being engraved on the bone. Although they are not
entirely uniform in size, the variations are not great. The figures must have
evolved from rough and careless scratches in the still more distant past. This chia-ku-wen,
or shell-and-bone script (18th-12th century BC), is the earliest stage of
development in Chinese calligraphy.
It was said that Ts'ang Chieh, the legendary inventor
of Chinese writing, got his ideas from observing animals' footprints and birds'
claw marks on the sand as well as other natural phenomena. He then started to
work out simple images from what he conceived as representing different objects
such as those that are given below: 
Surely, the first images that the inventor drew of
these few objects could not have been quite so stylized but must have undergone
some modifications to reach the above stage. Each image is composed of a
minimum number of lines and yet is easily recognizable. Nouns no doubt came first.
Later, new ideographs had to be invented to record actions, feelings, and
differences in size, colour, taste, and so forth. Something
was added to the already existing ideograph to give it a new meaning. The
ideograph for deer, for instance, is 
, not a realistic image but a very much sim plified
structure of lines suggesting a deer by its horns, big eye, and small body,
which distinguish it from other animals. When two such simple images 
are put side by side, the meaning is
"pretty," "prettiness," "beautiful,"
"beauty," etc., which is obvious if one has seen two such elegant
creatures walking together. But, if a third image is added above the other two,
as 
, it means "rough," "coarse," and
even "haughty." This interesting point is the change in meaning
through the arrangement of the images. If the three stags were not standing in
an orderly manner, they could become rough and aggressive to anyone approaching
them. From the aesthetic point of view, three such images could not be arranged
side by side within an imaginary square without cramping one another, and in
the end none would look like a deer at all.
After the shell-and-bone script came writing on bronze
vessels, known as bronze script. In the early days of divination, when the
kings of the Shang dynasty (18th-12th century BC) tried to solve their problems
by consulting their ancestors and deities, the latter's answers were engraved
on bones and on tortoise shells for perpetual preservation. Later, bronze was
used to make cooking utensils and wine vessels for the special ceremonies of
ancestral worship, raw or cooked food being offered up in them. So sacred were
these ancestor-worshipping ceremonies that the best types of bronze utensil
were specially designed and cast for such purposes, and, in addition,
inscriptions, from a few words up to several hundred, were incised inside the
bronzes. The words of the engravings could not be roughly formed or even just
simple images; they had to be well worked out to go with the decorative
ornaments outside the bronzes, and in some instances they almost became the
chief decorative design in themselves. Though they preserved the general
structure of the bone-and-shell script, they were considerably elaborated and
beautified. Each bronze or set of them may bear a different type of
inscription, not only in the wording but also in the manner of writing.
Hundreds of them were created by different artists. The bronze script
represents another stage of development in Chinese calligraphy, known as chin-wen
("metal-script"), ku-wen ("ancient-script"), or ta
chuan ("large-seal") style of writing.
Before long a unification of all types of the bronze
script was enforced when China was united for the first time, in the 3rd
century BC. The first emperor of Ch'in, Shih Huang-ti, gave the task of working
out the new script to his prime minister, Li Ssu, and no other type was allowed
to be used. Here are some common words that can be compared with similar words
in bone-and-shell script mentioned above: 
This was the third step forward in the development of
Chinese calligraphy, known as hsiao chuan ("small-seal")
style.
In the small-seal style of writing, all lines are
drawn of even thickness, and more curves and circles are employed. Each word
tends to fill up an imaginary square, and a passage written in small-seal style
has the appearance of a series of equal squares neatly arranged in columns and
rows, each of them balanced and well-spaced.
The uniformity of writing in China was established
chiefly for the purpose of meeting the growing demands for documented records.
Unfortunately, the small-seal style could not be written speedily and was
therefore not entirely suitable. Another stage of development was needed--the
fourth stage, which is called li shu, or official style. The Chinese
word li here means "a petty official" or "a clerk"; li
shu means a style specially devised for the use of clerks. If examined
carefully, li shu is found to contain no circles and very few curved
lines. Squares and short straight lines, vertical and horizontal, are chiefly
used. Because of the speed needed for writing, the brush in the hand tends to
move up and down, and an even thickness of line cannot be enforced. As the
thickness varied, artist-writers could concentrate more on the artistic shaping
of the lines.
Li shu is thought to have been invented by Ch'eng Miao
(240-207 BC), who had offended the First Emperor of Ch'in and was serving a
10-year sentence in prison. He spent his time in prison working out this new
development, which opened up seemingly endless possibilities for later
calligraphers. According to their own artistic insight, they evolved new
variations in the shape of lines and in construction. The words in li shu
style tend to be square or slightly rectangular horizontally. Though the even
thickness of lines is relaxed, the rigidity in the shaping of them is still
there; for instance, the vertical lines had to be shorter, and the horizontal
ones longer. As this curtailed the freedom of hand for individual artistic
taste, another stage of development came into being--the fifth stage, chen
shu (k'ai shu), or regular style. There is no record of who invented
this style, but it must have been in evolution for a long time, at least since
the 1st century AD if not earlier. The Chinese still use this regular style of
writing today; in fact, what is known as modern Chinese writing is almost 2,000
years old, and the written words of China have not changed since the first
century of the Christian Era.
"Regular style" means "the proper style
of Chinese writing" used by all Chinese for government documents, printed
books, and public and private dealings in important matters ever since its
establishment. Since the regulations for the civil service examination enforced
in the T'ang period (AD 618-907), each candidate had to be able to write a good
hand in regular style. This Imperial decree deeply influenced all Chinese who
wanted to become scholars and enter the civil service. This examination was
abolished in 1905, but most Chinese still try to acquire a hand in regular
style even to the present day.
In chen shu each line, each square or angle,
and even each dot can be shaped according to the will and taste of the
calligrapher. Indeed, a Chinese word in regular style presents an almost
infinite variety of problems of structure and composition, and, when executed,
it presents to the onlooker a design whose abstract beauty can draw the mind
away from the literal meaning of the word itself.
The greatest exponents of Chinese calligraphy were
Wang Hsi-chih (died 379) and his son Wang Hsien-chih in the 4th century. Few of
their original works have survived, but a number of their writings were
engraved on stone tablets, and rubbings were made from them. Many great
calligraphers imitated their styles, but none ever surpassed them.
Wang Hsi-chih not only provided the greatest example
in the regular style of writing but also relaxed the tension somewhat in the
arrangement of the strokes in the regular style by giving easy movement to the
brush to trail from one word to another. This is called hsing shu, or
running style, as if the hand were walking fast while writing. This, in turn,
led to the creation of ts'ao shu, or grass style, which takes its
name from its appearance--as if the wind had blown over the grass in a manner
disorderly yet orderly. The English term cursive writing cannot describe the
Chinese grass style, for even a cursive hand can be deciphered without very
much difficulty. But Chinese words in grass style are greatly simplified forms
of the regular style and can be deciphered only by those who have practiced
calligraphy for years. It is not a style for general use but for the
calligrapher who wishes to produce a work of abstract art.
Technically speaking, there is no mystery in Chinese
calligraphy. The tools for Chinese calligraphy are very few--good ink, ink
stone, a good brush, and good paper (some prefer silk). It depends on the skill
and imagination of the writer to give interesting shapes to his strokes and to
compose beautiful structures from them without any retouching or shading and,
most important of all, with well-balanced spaces between the strokes. This
balance needs years of practice and training.
The fundamental inspiration of Chinese calligraphy, as
of all arts in China, is nature. In regular style each stroke, even each dot,
suggests the form of a natural object. As every twig of a living tree is alive,
so every tiny stroke of a piece of fine calligraphy has the energy of a living
thing. Printing does not admit the slightest variation in the shapes and
structures, but strict regularity is not tolerated by Chinese calligraphers,
especially those who are masters of the ts'ao shu. A finished piece of
fine calligraphy is not a symmetrical arrangement of conventional shape but,
rather, something like the coordinated movements of a skillfully composed
dance--impulse, momentum, momentary poise, and the interplay of active forces
combining to form a balanced whole.
Korean calligraphy
Koreans have used Chinese characters probably since
the 2nd or 3rd century AD. Even after the invention of the Korean alphabet in
1447, Chinese was used as the official script until the 19th century.
A few inscribed stone monuments remain from the Three
Kingdoms period (c. 57 BC-AD 668). Ancient Koreans, eager to adopt
Chinese culture, developed a calligraphy reflecting Chinese styles. In the
following Unified Silla dynasty (668-935), a devotion and adherence to the
T'ang culture of China gave birth to such great masters of calligraphy in Korea
as Kim Saing and Choi Ch'i-won, whose styles of writing basically followed
those of the Chinese calligraphers Ou-yang Hsün and Yü Shih-nan.
The angular, squarish style of Ou-yang Hsün, Yü
Shih-nan, and Yen Chen-ch'ing, inherited from the Silla dynasty, continued in
the Koryo period (918-1392) until around 1350, when the rounded, fluent style
of the Chinese calligrapher Chao Meng-fu, of the Yüan dynasty, was introduced
and became the vogue. Since that time the chao style has remained the
basic undercurrent in Korean calligraphy.
At first the calligraphy of the Yi dynasty (1392-1910)
followed the chao style, but early in the 16th century a mannered,
vulgar style began to be evident. The 19th century saw, however, the emergence
of individual styles related to those of Chinese calligraphers. The new trend
was the result of Korea's close cultural contacts with Ch'ing China.
The greatest master of the Yi period was Kim Chong Hi,
who established the so-called ch'usa style. His calligraphy is derived
from the li shu script of China, but his sense of pictorial composition,
harmony within asymmetry, and animation by unmatched, forceful strokes gave him
a style completely his own.
The influence of Japanese calligraphy began to be felt
about 1920. Since World War II, calligraphy in both North and South Korea has
been profoundly influenced by governmental decisions to replace all Chinese
characters with words written in the native alphabet. As a consequence, modern
Korean calligraphy has been developing along new lines.
Japanese calligraphy
The art of calligraphy has long been highly esteemed
in Japan as in China. There is no definite record of when the Japanese began to
use Chinese words--called kanji in Japanese. It is known that a Korean
scribe named Wani brought some Chinese books of Confucian classics, such as the
Analects, Great Learning, and Book of Mencius, to Japan near the
end of the 4th century AD. From the 7th century onward, many Japanese scholars,
particularly Buddhist monks, went to China, and some Chinese went to Japan. As
Indian Buddhism reached Japan via Korea and China and took root there, the use
of kanji in Japan gradually grew. Eventually, kanji became the
official system of writing in Japan.
Most of the Chinese Buddhist monks who went to live in
Japan were scholars and good calligraphers; their writings on the Buddhist
scriptures and other subjects were admired and esteemed not only for their
aesthetic value as calligraphy but also because they induced a sense of
religious awe in the readers.
Many of the early Japanese emperors were ardent
Buddhists and also acquired a masterly hand in kanji writings. So did
many Japanese Zen priests, whose calligraphy tended to exercise a religious
effect upon the Japanese mind. Theirs became a special type of calligraphy in
Japan, namely, Japanese Zen calligraphy, or bokuseki.
Naturally, it was unsuitable for Japan to adopt an
entire foreign language like Chinese, and Japanese thinkers began to devise a
new, native script known as hiragana, which was often referred to as
"women's hand," or onna-de in Japanese. It was used
particularly in the writing of Japanese poetry and had an elegant and graceful
appearance.
There are many outstanding pieces of Japanese
calligraphy in kanji, but they are not distinctive when compared with
their Chinese counterparts. Japanese hiragana calligraphy, however,
stands out prominently and proudly, especially in the style of remmen-tai,
in which the hiragana are written continuously and connected together
without break, and in chowa-tai, in which some kanji words
join hands with the hiragana. Japanese calligraphy in remmen-tai
or in chowa-tai has some resemblance to the Chinese grass style,
but the two are easily distinguishable. In Chinese grass style, although the
words are greatly simplified and several words can be joined together with
trailing strokes, each separate word normally still retains its regular spacing
within an imaginary square, big or small. But Japanese hiragana cannot
be spaced so separately and evenly. Therefore, a whole piece of remmen-tai
calligraphy looks like a big bundle of beautiful silk strings hanging down
confusedly yet artistically, as if the calligrapher had let his hand move
swiftly of its own accord. The separate strokes and dots have no distinctive
shape but join other strokes and dots in the following hiragana. The
strokes or lines in hiragana are not shaped like living things, nor are
they of even thickness; but there must be good spacing between the strokes or
lines and between one hiragana and another, so that there is no
confusion or blur in the completed piece. This is a highly demanding art, and
the whole piece has to be executed with speed and without hesitation. Hiragana
requires solid training and artistic insight.
Early Semitic writing
During the 2nd millennium BC, various Semitic peoples
at the eastern end of the Mediterranean were experimenting with alphabetic
writing. Between 1500 and 1000 BC, alphabetic signs found in scattered sites
showed a correspondence of form and provided material for sound translations.
Bodies of writing from this period are fragmented: a few signs scratched on
sherds or cut in stone. Few of these are celebrated in terms of aesthetic
value.
One interesting set of Semitic inscriptions was
discovered in 1905 at an ancient mining site on the Sinai Peninsula. A sphinx
from that discovery yields the taw, nun, taw, or t, n,
t, meaning "gift." It is evident that the nun, or n,
sign is a rendering of a serpent. Most of the early Semitic alphabetic signs
were similarly derived from word signs of more ancient vintage.
The several Semitic peoples in the Middle East area
spoke languages that were closely related, and this enabled them to use the
same set of alphabetic signs. After some experimentation the alphabet was
reduced to 22 signs for consonants. There were no vowel signs. The tribes of
Canaan (Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Aramaeans) were important in the development
of alphabetic writing, and all seemed to be employing the alphabet by 1000 BC.
The Phoenicians, living along a 20-mile (30-kilometre)
strip on the Mediterranean, made the great sea their second home, giving the
alphabet to Greeks in the mutual trading area and leaving inscriptions in many
sites. One of the finest Phoenician inscriptions exists on a bronze cup from
Cyprus called the Baal of Lebanon (Louvre, Paris) dating from c. 800 BC.
The so-called Moabite Stone (Louvre), c. 850 BC, has an inscription that
is also a famous example of early Semitic writing.
Old
Hebrew
Old Hebrew existed in inscription form in the early
centuries of the 1st millennium BC. The pen-written forms of the Old Hebrew
alphabet are best preserved in the 13th-century-AD documents of the Samaritan
sects.
The exile suffered by the Israelites (586-538 BC)
dealt a heavy blow to the Hebrew language, since, after their return from
exile, Aramaic was the dominant language of the area, and Hebrew existed as a
second and scholarly language. Aramaic pen-written documents begin to appear in
the 5th century BC and are vigorous interpretations of inscription letters. As
seen in the Aramaic document (MS. Pell. Aram. XIV) in the Bodleian Library at
Oxford, the penman has cut the pen wide at the tip to produce a pronounced
thick and thin structure to the line of letters. The penman's hand was rotated
counterclockwise more than 45 degrees relative to vertical, so that vertical
strokes were thinner than the horizontal ones. Then, too, there is a tendency
to hold these strong horizontals on the top line, with trailing descenders
finding a typical length, long or short on the basis of ancient habits. The lamed
form, which has the same derivation as the Western L, resembles the latter and
can be picked out in early Aramaic pen hands by its characteristic long
ascender.
The traditional square Hebrew, or merubba', pen
hand was developed in the centuries preceding the Christian Era. This early
script may be seen in the famed Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947. These
scrolls are associated with a group of dissident Jews who founded a religious
commune on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea about 180 BC. The commune had
an extensive library. Pens were the instruments of writing, and, as in earlier
Aramaic documents, leather provided the surface. Again the lamed form is
visually prominent.
There are no Hebrew manuscripts from the first 500
years of the Christian Era. Most of the development in the square Hebrew script
occurred between AD 1000 and 1500. The earliest script to emerge from the Dead
Sea writing was the Early Sefardic (Spharadic), with examples dating between AD
600 and 1200. The Classic Sefardic hand appears between AD 1100 and 1600. The
Ashkenazic style of Hebrew writing exhibits French and German Gothic overtones
of the so-called black-letter styles (see below Latin-alphabet handwriting: The
black-letter, or Gothic, style [9th to 15th century]) developed to write
western European languages in the late Middle Ages. German black letter, with
its double-stroked heads and feet, was difficult for the scribe. Hebrew scripts
from this period exhibit some of the same complicated pen stroking and change
of pen slant within individual characters. Some decorative qualities of
medieval French writing are seen in this Hebrew script.
Spread of Aramaic to the Middle East and Asia
Aramaic was the mother of many languages in the Middle
East and Asia. Generally, the Canaanite-Phoenician influence went west from
Palestine, while Aramaic became an international language spreading east,
south, and north from the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Never sponsored
by great political power, the Aramaic script and language succeeded through
inherent efficiency and because the Aramaeans were vigorous traders and
extensive travellers in the millennium preceding the birth of Christ.
One of the important languages to derive from Aramaic
was Syriac. It was spoken over large areas to the north and east of Palestine,
but the literature emerged from a strong national church
of Syria centred in the city of Edessa. The development of Syriac scripts
occurred from the 4th to the 7th century AD.
Eastern Christendom was riddled with sects and
heretical movements. After 431 the Syriac language and script split into
eastern and western branches. The western branch was called Serta and developed
into two varieties, Jacobite and Melchite. Vigorous in pen graphics, Serta
writing shows that, unlike the early Aramaic and Hebrew scripts, characters are
fastened to a bottom horizontal. Modern typefaces used to print Syriac, which
has survived as a language, have the same characteristic. Eastern Syriac script
was called Nestorian after Nestorius, who led a secession movement from the
Orthodox Church of Byzantium that flourished in Persia and spread along trade
routes deep into Asia.
Arabic calligraphy
In the 7th and 8th centuries AD the Arab armies
conquered for Islam territories stretching from the shores of the Atlantic to
Sind (now in Pakistan). Besides a religion, they brought to the conquered
peoples a language both written and spoken. The Arabic language was a principal
factor in uniting peoples who differed widely in race, language, and culture.
In the early centuries of Islam, Arabic not only was the official
language of administration but also was and has remained the language of
religion and learning. The Arabic alphabet has been adapted to the Islamic
peoples' vernaculars just as the Latin alphabet has been in the Christian West.
The Arabic script was evolved probably by the 6th
century AD from Nabataean, a dialect of Aramaic current in northern Arabia. The
earliest surviving examples of Arabic before Islam are inscriptions on
stone.
Arabic is written from right to left and consists of
17 characters, which, with the addition of dots placed above or below certain
of them, provide the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet. Short vowels are not
included in the alphabet, being indicated by signs placed above or below the
consonant or long vowel that they follow. Certain characters may
be joined to their neighbours, others to the preceding one only, and others to
the succeeding one only. When coupled to another, the form of the character
undergoes certain changes.
These features, as well as the fact that there are no
capital forms of letters, give the Arabic script its particular character. A
line of Arabic suggests an urgent progress of the characters from right to
left. The nice balance between the vertical shafts above and the open curves below
the middle register induces a sense of harmony. The peculiarity that certain
letters cannot be joined to their neighbours provides
articulation. For writing, the Arabic calligrapher employs a reed pen (qalam)
with the working point cut on an angle. This feature produces a thick
downstroke and a thin upstroke with an infinity of gradation in between. The
line traced by a skilled calligrapher is a true marvel of fluidity and
sensitive inflection, communicating the very action of the master's hand.
Broadly speaking, there were two distinct scripts in
the early centuries of Islam: cursive script and Kufic script.
For everyday purposes a cursive script was employed: typical examples are to be
seen in the Arabic papyri from Egypt. Rapidly executed, the script does not
appear to have been subject to formal and rigorous rules, and not all the
surviving examples are the work of professional scribes. Kufic script, however,
seems to have been developed for religious and official purposes. The term Kufic
means "the script of Kufah," an Islamic city founded in
Mesopotamia in AD 638, but the actual connection between the city and the
script is not clear. Kufic is a more or less square and angular script.
Professional copyists employed a particular form for reproducing the earliest
copies of the Qur'an that have survived. These are written on parchment and
date from the 8th to the 10th century. They are mostly of an oblong as opposed
to codex format. The writing is frequently large, especially in the early
examples, so that there may be as few as three lines to a single page. The
script can hardly be described as stiff and angular; rather, the pace is
majestic and measured.
Kufic went out of general use about the 11th
century, although it continued to be used as a decorative element contrasting
with those scripts that superseded it. About AD 1000 a new script was
established and came to be used for copying the Qur'an. This is the
so-called naskhi script, which has remained perhaps the most popular
script in the Arab world. It is a cursive script based on certain laws
governing the proportions between the letters. The two names associated with
its development are Ibn Muqlah and Ibn al-Bawwab, both of whom lived and worked
in Mesopotamia. Of the latter's work a single authentic example survives, a
manuscript of the Qur'an in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin.
Distinctive scripts were developed in particular
regions. In Spain the maghribi ("western") script was evolved
and became the standard script for Qur'ans in North Africa. Derived
ultimately from Kufic, it is characterized by the exaggerated extension
of horizontal elements and of the final open curves below the middle register.
Both Persia and Turkey made important contributions to
calligraphy. In these countries the Arabic script was adopted for the
vernacular. The Persian scribes invented the ta'liq script in the 13th
century. The term ta'liq means "suspension" and aptly
describes the tendency of each word to drop down from its preceding one. At the
close of the same century, a famous calligrapher, Mir 'Ali of Tabriz, evolved nasta'liq,
which, according to its name, is a combination of naskhi and ta'liq.
Like ta'liq, this is a fluid and elegant script, and both were popularly
used for copying Persian literary works.
A characteristic script developed in Ottoman Turkey
was that used in the chancellery and known as divani. This script is
highly mannered and rather difficult to read. Peculiar to Turkish calligraphy
is the tugra (tughra), a kind of royal
cipher based on the names and titles of the reigning sultan and worked into a
very intricate and beautiful design. A distinctive tugra was
created for each sultan and affixed to imperial decrees by a skilled
calligrapher, the neshani.
There has always existed in the Islamic world a
keen appreciation of fine handwriting, and, from the 16th century, it became a
practice to assemble in albums specimens of penmanship. Many of these assembled
in Turkey, Persia, and India are preserved in museums and libraries.
Calligraphy, too, has given rise to quite a considerable literature such as
manuals for professional scribes employed in chancelleries.
In its broadest sense, calligraphy also includes the
Arabic scripts employed in materials other than parchment, papyrus, and paper.
In religious buildings, verses from the Qur'an were inscribed on the
walls for the edification of the faithful, whether carved in stone or stucco or
executed in faience tiles. Religious invocations, dedications, and benedictory
phrases were also introduced into the decoration of portable objects. Generally
speaking, there is a close relationship between these and the scripts properly
used on the conventional writing materials. It was often the practice for a
skilled penman to design monumental inscriptions.
Calligraphy
I. Introduction |
