Art

Evolution of Calligraphy Essay- 

Calligraphy is writing that is in the form of visual art. Calligraphy is often referred to as the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner. Calligraphy is a term that has been derived from the Greek word for beauty and to write. Calligraphy has been a tradition in the Middle East and East Asia for a long time. It also got popular in the western culture when the spread of greek- latin alphabets started to grow. However, the European countries introduced printing in the 15th century so calligraphy wasn't an English word until 1613. Printing becoming bigger in European countries and books started to became printed instead of handwritten however many things were still handwritten and most handwritten things were done in calligraphy. This influenced the modern world's writing and printing styles. This is why in the modern day we see many advertisements that are printed but are in calligraphy.  There is Arabic Calligraphy and Indic calligraphy. These types of calligraphy helped create new scripts and new forms of calligraphy. Arabic calligraphy was made in the 6th century. A typical Arabic calligrapher does Arabic calligraphy with a reed pen known as a Qalam. The Qalam is cut to an angle which helps the calligrapher do several different thick and thin strokes. Arabic calligraphy is an art that is truly very fluid and shows every skill of the calligrapher and it communicates each action that the calligrapher's hand has done. Indic calligraphy was influenced by Aramaic writing with Indian scripts mainly of Sanskrit. It was developed in the 3rd century in the reign of Ashoka. After Indic calligraphy, two new styles of writing appeared Kharoshti and Brahmi. Indic calligraphy was also written by a specific kind of pen which is what inspired the Qalam in Arabic calligraphy. Indic calligraphy was most commonly written on palm leaves. This shows that there were many different kinds of calligraphy and that they all came from different regions and different parts of the world. This also shows how much the society, language and the era influenced this art form which is Calligraphy. This makes us how much calligraphy has evolved over the years.