Calligraphy

The History of Western Calligraphy

The word calligraphy itself comes from two Greek words, kallos meaning beauty and graphe meaning writing. Western forms of this way of writing have existed in one form or another since 3000 BC, when the Latin alphabet, as well as the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets came into existence. The original forms of this beautiful writing were used with only capital letters, as lower-case forms of the Latin alphabet did not evolve until later.

Christianity created a big boost to the art form, as monks and other religious scholars were put to work creating illuminated texts, where the lettering was extremely embellished and detailed. Also important in the history of calligraphy was the Celtic region, especially Ireland. This area developed its own style of writing, known as Uncial, and created some of the most lovely works known - such as The Book of Kells.

Specific Styles of Western Ornamental Writing

Some types of calligraphic writing start with illuminated letters, which are the large ornamental first letters shown in old handwritten manuscripts. After the formation of the Uncial style of calligraphic writing, other types were developed in different regions. Blackletter was a style developed in the 12th century that eventually became known as "Gothic". Considered one of the most readable forms of calligraphy, this sort of writing was eventually adapted into the printing press, and Johannes Gutenberg printed his first Bible with Gothic moveable type.

Another type of calligraphic writing developed was the "Carolingian minuscule", where minuscule meant "lower-case". This type of writing was spread by the emperor Charlemagne, and was the first to include lower as well as upper case letters.

Other Forms of Writing

Chinese calligraphy

In China, as well as in other parts of East Asia, a different sort of handwriting technique developed. Typically known as hanzi in Chinese and kanji in Japanese, this sort of calligraphy is known for its structure. The many characters represent entire words or thoughts, and many of the characters resemble their meanings in a picturesque way. There are five main types of Chinese writing styles:

• Seal Script
• Clerical Script
• Regular Script
• Running Script
• Grass Script

Tibetan Script

In Tibet, writing by hand is a integral part of the culture. The script here originated with Indic scripts and was originally only used by religious figures such as High Lamas and residents of the palace. Buddhism, the primary religion in Tibet, features written language this is held sacred and few if any non-religious historical writings have been found from ancient Tibet.

Islamic Writing Style

The Islamic form of embellished writing is highly evolved, having come into existence with the beginning of the Muslim religion. It is often tied to works that come from the most important of religious writings in Islamic culture - the Koran. The ancient forms of writing used in the original versions of this holy work are still used as examples to teach this skill today.

Other Uses for Calligraphy

Besides the typical uses for fancy script writing, such as books, ceremonial certificates and wedding announcements, calligraphy is also used in other ways. Many tattoos include some sort of lettering which is usually done in a handwritten style, with or without embellishments. Other uses include embroidery on textiles (shirts, etc) and "artificial" forms of handwriting, such as computer fonts.

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