Calligraphy
[1]: 17 Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner".
It is also used for props, moving images for film and television, testimonials, birth and death certificates, maps, and other written works.
[examples needed][citation needed] In ancient China, the oldest known Chinese characters are oracle bone script (甲骨文), carved on ox scapulae and tortoise plastrons, as the rulers in the Shang dynasty carved pits on such animals' bones and then baked them to gain auspice of military affairs, agricultural harvest, or even procreation and weather.
In Imperial China, the graphs on old steles – some dating from 200 BCE, and in the small seal script (小篆 xiǎo zhuàn) style – have been preserved and can be viewed in museums even today.
The clerical script (隸書/隸书) (lì shū) which was more regularized, and in some ways similar to modern text, was also authorised under Qin Shi Huang.
Its spread was encouraged by Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang (926–933), who ordered the printing of the classics using new wooden blocks in kaishu[further explanation needed].
Eventually, the speed, accelerations and decelerations of a skilled calligrapher's movements aim to give "spirit" to the characters, greatly influencing their final shapes.
All four scripts were inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, under the name Philippine Paleographs (Hanunoo, Build, Tagbanua and Pala’wan), in 1999.
[31][32] Vietnamese calligraphy is called thư pháp (書法, literally "the way of letters or words") and is based on Chữ Nôm and Chữ Hán, the historical Vietnamese writing system rooted in the impact of Chinese characters and replaced with the Latin alphabet as a result of French colonial influence.
However, the calligraphic traditions maintaining the historical employment of Han characters continue to be preserved in modern Vietnamese calligraphy.
It was the monasteries which preserved calligraphic traditions during the fourth and fifth centuries, when the Roman Empire fell and Europe entered the early Middle Ages.
[38] Two distinct styles of writing known as uncial and half-uncial (from the Latin uncia, or "inch") developed from a variety of Roman bookhands.
[43] In the eleventh century, the Caroline evolved into the blackletter ("Gothic") script, which was more compact and made it possible to fit more text on a page.
[45] While there were many great French masters at the time, the most influential in proposing these hands was Louis Barbedor, who published Les Ecritures Financière Et Italienne Bastarde Dans Leur Naturel c. 1650.
[45] In England, Ayres and Banson popularized the Round Hand while Snell is noted for his reaction to them, and warnings of restraint and proportionality.
Unlike a typeface, handwritten calligraphy is characterised by irregularity in the characters which vary in size, shape, style, and color, producing a distinct aesthetic value, although it may also make the content more difficult to decode for some readers.
[46] Many of the themes and variations of today's contemporary Western calligraphy are found in the pages of The Saint John's Bible.
Contemporary artists in the Islamic world may draw on the heritage of calligraphy to create modern calligraphic inscriptions, like corporate logos, or abstractions.
The city of Istanbul is an open exhibition hall for all kinds and varieties of calligraphy, from inscriptions in mosques to fountains, schools, houses, etc.
This calligraphy style has been based on such a rigid structure that it has changed very little since Mir Ali Tabrizi had found the optimum composition of the letters and graphical rules.
[38][4][50] A clear distinction between handwriting and more elaborate forms of lettering and script began to make its way into manuscripts and books at the beginning of the 16th century.
The modern revival of calligraphy began at the end of the 19th century, influenced by the aesthetics and philosophy of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement.
He began a teaching course in calligraphy at the Central School in Southampton Row, London from September 1899, where he influenced the typeface designer and sculptor Eric Gill.
– his handbook on the subject, Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering (1906) was particularly influential on a generation of British typographers and calligraphers, including Graily Hewitt, Stanley Morison, Eric Gill, Alfred Fairbank and Anna Simons.
Johnston also devised the crafted round calligraphic handwriting style, written with a broad pen, known today as the Foundational hand.
[56] Graily Hewitt taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and published together with Johnston throughout the early part of the century.
Hewitt was central[citation needed] to the revival of gilding in calligraphy, and his prolific output on type design also appeared between 1915 and 1943.
[59] Donald Jackson, a British calligrapher, has sourced his gesso recipes from earlier centuries, a number of which are not presently in English translation.
[60] Graily Hewitt created the patent announcing the award to Prince Philip of the title of Duke of Edinburgh on November 19, 1947, the day before his marriage to Queen Elizabeth.
[61][clarification needed] Anna Simons, Johnston's pupil, was instrumental in sparking interest in calligraphy in Germany with her German translation of Writing and Illuminating, and Lettering in 1910.
