Opening of Isl. Ms. 229 (Istanbul, 1791 or 2), an album of "taklid" (imitation) by the Ottoman calligrapher Mahmud Celâleddin Efendi (d.1829) reproducing pieces by the master Hafız Osman Efendi (d.1698).

Join us this Thursday, 9 April, 6-8p in the Hatcher Gallery for a conversation and collection visit with artists specializing in Ottoman classical book arts. 

Aisha Imam, director of Reed Society for the Sacred Arts will lead a panel discussion with

Dr. Nihad Dukhan — a resident of Farmington Hills who received his icazet (ijāzah — calligraphy diploma) in sülüs and nesih (thuluth and naskh) styles from Istanbul grand master calligrapher Hasan Çelebi in 2009, and in talik (taʿlīq) style in 2013 from master calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya

Khalid Casado — a Madrid-based calligrapher who received his icazet in sülüs and nesih styles under the masters Hasan Çelebi, Ferhat Kurlu and Nuria García in 2014

Behnaz Karjoo — a New York-based Iranian-American tazhib (illumination) artist who has been classically trained under a distinguished master of Turkish illumination

Following the panel, curator Evyn Kropf will join the artists to lead a guided viewing of pieces from the Islamic Manuscripts Collection. This collection includes a significant number of works by well-known Ottoman masters of calligraphy and illumination to which contemporary calligraphers and illuminators trained in Ottoman traditional practices trace their artistic lineage.

Typography Tuesday

Here are some calligraphic alphabets by German master calligrapher Christine Hartmann (b. 1938) from her 1996 book Meisterschule Kalligraphie published under the direction of long-time Klingspor Museum director Christian Scheffler (1936-2020) in Augsburg by Augustus Verlag in 1996. Shown here are:

Proportions for capital letters

Diagram for writing san-serif capitals

Antiqua Kleinbuchstaben (lowercase)

Antiqua Grossbuchstaben (uppercase)

Uncial

Humanist cursive

Swing cursive

Gebrochene Schrift (Gothic)

Fraktur

A variant italic

Christine Hartmann studied at the Offenbacher Kunsthochschule with noted calligrapher and type designer Karlgeorg Hoefer (1914-2000), a major supporter of Klingspor Museum. Christian Scheffler, director of the museum, notes that Hartmann transformed calligraphy from its utilitarian nature to the milieu of free art. He states that she has taken "the hard path from the perfectly formed Antiqua to an individually shaped expressivity of the line."

Our copy of Meisterschule Kalligraphie bears a signed presentation inscription from Christian Scheffler to the German American children's book illustrator, calligrapher, and fine press printer Lili Wronker (1924-2019).

View our other calligraphy posts.

Na’shaya! The symbol you’re referring to is called kharat-ulidar (direction-marker) or, more colloquially, patam (head).

Because Vulcan writing is not direction-locked (more info on this here), the kharat-ulidar serves to easily orient the reader by pointing out where the text begins. It can also be used for texts comprising a single line if the calligrapher deems it appropriate. It is not a letter, and as such it’s not pronounced or read out loud. It is not completely necessary to write it as you can still see the direction of the text by observing the rest of the letters, but it is considered improper to omit it in formal contexts.

Surat al-Fatihah and the beginning of Surat al-Baqarah, from a Quran signed and dated to June 1427 in Iran.  This book was copied by Ibrahim Sultan (1394–1435), grandson of Timur and governor of Shiraz, who was a patron of the book arts and an accomplished calligrapher in his own right. 

Lil bit of liquid lettering for you all! By the Calligraphers-Journal

Using Procreate 5