Islamic calligraphy

islamic art

Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people (not necessarily Muslim) who lived within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally Islamic populations.It is thus a very difficult art to define because it covers many lands and various peoples over some 1400 years; it is not art specifically of a religion, or of a time, or of a place, or of a single medium like painting. The huge field of Islamic architecture is the subject of a separate article, leaving fields as varied as calligraphy, painting, glass,ceramics, and textiles, among others.

Islamic art is not at all restricted to religious art, but includes all the art of the rich and varied cultures of Islamic societies as well. It frequently includes secular elements and elements that are frowned upon, if not forbidden, by some Islamic theologians. Apart from the ever-present calligraphic inscriptions, specifically religious art is actually less prominent in Islamic art than in Western medieval art, with the exception of Islamic architecture where mosques and their complexes of surrounding buildings are the most common remains. Figurative painting may cover religious scenes, but normally in essentially secular contexts such as the walls of palaces or illuminated books of poetry. The calligraphy and decoration of manuscript Qu'rans is an important aspect, but other religious art such as glass mosque lampsand other mosque fittings such as tiles (e.g. Girih tiles), woodwork and carpets usually have the same style and motifs as contemporary secular art, although with religious inscriptions even more prominent. 

Save me from hell

Islamic calligraphy

Kalma calligraphy

Calligraphy

My Calligraphy

Calligraphy
From the Greek – Kallos= beauty & grapke=writing So that would be beautiful writing
The wiki site gives a contemporary definition of the art of giving forms to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner. But this says nothing of beauty. 
We can agree that Calligraphy is an art form and that it should be beautiful which is subjective and it should be expressive. Calligraphy could be considered an artistic craft. It serves a function of communicating so maybe the definition should have a mention of communicating something. That is in effect what writing does. And calligraphy is writing or we’ll say fancy writing. 
Now we also know that writing is a form of drawing. So now we can say that calligraphy is a form of drawing. It uses lines and these lines have certain qualities and characteristics that make the calligraphic letters beautiful or interesting. It also has shape and form so that now we can say that it uses the elements of art. Does this make it art? I think the definition of art is subjective so you will have arrive at that answer on your own. I for one believe that it very well can be an art based upon what I have written above. 


Calligraphy may be a dying art form now because of computers and fonts. I believe we are a fairly lazy society and a Calligrapher’s prices can be high. But it is a mechanical art form that can be practiced and learned so as opposed to using a computer program entirely, a combination of hand done and computer might cut prices allowing everyone, willing to put in the time, to obtain the beauty of the written word to express their feelings in a wedding invitation, a religious event, an invite to a birthday party or an birth announcement. 

Graphic artists use calligraphy and calligraphic devices to make their artwork. Look at a movie poster or CD cover. Look at the written words and examine how they draw your attention to them and what they are saying. Think about posters like no smoking posters. Does the lettering say anything about the message? Can they alone, express a message. Yes they can and the good, the best often do. It gives the message a harmonious feel where all the parts are working together. 
Note : Above caligraphy is a real production of Huma art :)