Essay On Islamic Calligraphy

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Many Western artists also cite Islamic calligraphy as one of their influences. For instance, Matisse acknowledges the influence exerted by the Arab art on his lines and colours. He says, speaking of "expansive will," that he drew this notion from the East: "the revelation came to me from the East or, more precisely from Islam. This art affected me, especially during the extraordinary exhibition in Munich ... because this art suggests a wider space, a veritable plastic space” (Spurling 81). Arab-Islamic Calligraphy also evolved into many more diverse types of calligraphy such as Light Calligraphy, Figural Calligraphy, Expressionist Calligraphy and Symbolic Calligraphy. One might argue that Islamic calligraphy would diminish with the rise of secularisation as well as the fall of the ottoman empire, which is the most prominent hub of islamic…show more content…
The writing is based on a poem about learning. The circle of writing in gold and it’s huge size compared to the tiny dots surrounding it represents the sun which is a symbol for education and learning. It represents the artist’s nostalgia to previous eras in which education and knowledge were prominent and valued in the Islamic world. The tool that fits best in analysing this work is art history because since only arabic letters are used, iconological and ideological as well as semiotic and formal analyses wouldn’t be appropriate. Art history can analyse this work in terms of tracing how Arab-Islamic calligraphy had developed to this stage. Now we turn to the work of Chinese Calligraphy. The work is called Willow Tree by Jin Nong painted in 1754. It’s an Ink of Paper work. We see a willow tree branch in the right side of the painting. At the bottom we see a peach blossom branch. There’s also a series of chinese characters written on the top left of the paper. The entire painting is in black ink with the exception of a small red emblem at the far

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