ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
ART FOCUS:
CALLIGRAPHY
CALLIGRAPHY, THE ART OF DECORATIVE HANDWRITING (THE WORD CALLIGRAPHY
TRANSLATES AS ‘BEAUTIFUL WRITING’), BEGAN BACK IN ANCIENT EGYPT WITH THE
FAMOUS BOOK OF THE DEAD, AND THE HIEROGLYPHICS THAT WERE USED TO CREATE
IT. NEVER BEFORE HAD ANYTHING SO INSTRUCTIONAL ALSO BEEN SO BEAUTIFUL. AND
IN CHINA IN 3000BC, CALLIGRAPHY WAS CONSIDERED TO BE THE VERY HIGHEST ART
FORM, AND THOSE WHO PRACTICED IT WERE REVERED AND HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER.
THE SAME IS TRUE OF ARABIC CALLIGRAPHY, WHICH IS STILL USED TODAY.
The western style of
calligraphy came much
later, around 600BC,
and it wasn’t always
about making
documents look
attractive. When it was
first created it was so
that the written word
could easily be copied
over and over again.
There were no printing
presses, no computers,
nothing that would
make the job an easy
one, and each book –
mainly religious texts,
although Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales, Beowulf and the King Arthur stories amongst others
would also have been written in this way – had to be copied out by hand.
In order to make the chore less time consuming and easier on the eyes
(there was no electricity, so everything was written either in natural light or
by candlelight) calligraphy was used.
Calligraphy writing was an incredibly
specialised job since not many of
the population could read or write.
The style of western calligraphy
changed over the centuries;
originally it was known as Caroline
script, and it was created by Alcuin,
the Abbot of York. He gathered
together a number of scribes
specifically to copy out texts, and
he taught them all how to use his
special style of calligraphy so that
all the books would look the same.
Eventually this style – which included
large characters and took up a lot
of space on the page – evolved into
the more recognisable Gothic script,
the characters of which are smaller
and therefore less paper was used
when copying out the texts.
A calligrapher doesn’t need many
specialist tools to create their written
60
art; a pen, ink and paper are the
most important items. Calligraphy
pens (called ‘dip pens’) differ to the
standard ink or fountain pen in that
their nibs are more flexible, allowing
them to spread out more when
being used. This is what gives a
piece of calligraphy its different ebbs
and flows. Also, a dip pen doesn’t
use a cartridge – it is dipped into
the ink, much like a quill would have
been. Dip pens can come with a
range of different nibs which can
be changed depending on the look
you want to create.
The ink used should be water-based
as it is thinner and easier to move
about on the paper. Oil-based inks
stick and blob and end up in a mess
more times than not. Speaking of
the paper, it needs to be high quality
(practising on standard copy paper