ISO IMpractical knowledge of calligraphy
July 15, 2017 7:56 AM   Subscribe

What are some great resources on the history, development, and/or cultural significance of calligraphy? Can be from any culture or alphabet, but I'm not really looking for practical step-by-step how-to guides so much as the broader social/religious/historical context of the art. "Brushes were originally constructed out of X because Y" rather than "Pick this brush up at your local art store."

How-to guides are great, but they are LEGION on the internet and at the library these days, and they're not really what I'm looking for at this time. Any recommendations (scholarly books/journals a-okay!) would be helpful and very much appreciated. Thanks!
posted by helloimjennsco to Writing & Language (6 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just last week I handled a 1622 book about calligraphy - the development, the techniques and context for calligraphy post-printing. Amazingly it's available to read via Google Books: David Browne - The New Invention, Intituled, Calligraphia: Or, the Arte of Faire Writing, Etc. Primary sources, FTW!
posted by kariebookish at 8:56 AM on July 15, 2017


You might be interested in leaning more about Lloyd Reynolds and Robert Palladino, both of whom taught calligraphy at Reed College. The latter famously influenced Steve Jobs during his time at Reed, but (as my second link makes clear) they're both extremely interesting people who have been important in the world of contemporary calligraphy and font design, as well as art and education.
posted by dizziest at 9:05 AM on July 15, 2017


The Medieval Book by Shailor; Introduction to Manuscript Studies by Clemens and Graham. For example:
Best for the purposes [of quill pens] were primary feathers (long feathers at the tip of the wing) plucked from live geese in springtime; most appreciated were feathers plucked from the left wing, which would curve away from the eyes of a right-handed scribe. (Clemens and Graham)
posted by Hypatia at 9:16 AM on July 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


Begin Japanology: Hiragana (50-minute YouTube video) has some truly fascinating discussion of the development and cultural role of ornamental Japanese scripts.
posted by heatherlogan at 2:58 PM on July 15, 2017


Azzam, Khaled. Arts & crafts of the Islamic lands : principles, materials, practice. London: Thames & Hudson, 2013 — may be something like what you're looking for. Written by tutors at The Prince's School of Traditional Arts, it's all about re-creating and using traditional materials. Some of it's a bit hard to take - I personally find anything that Prof. Critchlow writes vastly irritating - but in general it's clear and well researched.
posted by scruss at 6:08 PM on July 15, 2017


Complicated question/answer, but Chinese calligraphy is an artform and the construction of a given word may differ than the (commonly) written version. Calligraphy is also influenced by previous older version of language (ie., modern vs ye olde english). There's also a poetic component as well as different strokes of a given word (pictogram) may be have different roots or symbology leading to the construction of that word - the meaning of a word could be subtly altered with nuance.

The Met says it much better than I.

The calligraphy sequence in Hero (2002) may be of interest.
posted by porpoise at 6:46 PM on July 15, 2017


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