During my last visit to Damascus, I was invited to attend what ended up being a very serious discussion of one of the neglected manifestations of Arab culture: calligraphy.
Rafia’s art gallery organized a major calligraphy exhibit by four creative calligraphers from Syria (Mounir al-Shaarani), Sudan (Tagelsir Hassan), Iraq (Wissam Shawkat) and Egypt (Issam Abdul Fattah).
Tagelsir Hassan
The opening of the exhibition was followed by a highly interesting and lively, albeit contentious, discussion of the difference between artists who use Arabic letters in their free artistic creations and calligraphers, who follow, develop or invent strict calligraphic rules in their work. Another thread of the heated debate focused on the two schools of calligraphy, that of the strictly conventional vs. the innovative. Conservatives aspire to master the art of calligraphy to hitherto unattained levels of precision and beauty, but within the strict rules of the classically established fonts, as compared to those who refuse to limit themselves to what the old masters invented and created, but prefer to contribute to the glorious tradition of Arabic khatt through developing and inventing new fonts and rules.
Wissam Shawkat
Khaled al-Saai is a good example of the
school of artists who use Arabic fonts in their paintings, while Mounir
al-Shaarani is the epitome of the calligraphers who dedicated their whole
creative output to develop new fonts and aesthetics for modern Arab
calligraphy.
The whole debate between
traditionalists and innovators (mujawidoon wa mujadidoon) reminded me of
the splendid novel by Orhan Pamuk ‘My Name is Red’. It was through this fascinating novel that my
curiosity about Arabic calligraphy was kindled. And much to my shame, I
realized that my knowledge of this quintessential Arabic art form was scanty.
Issam Abdul Fattah
Mounir Shaarani is considered today
among the most prominent Arab calligraphers who rebelled against what he
considers an Ottoman tradition that is anachronistic, impervious to
development, and suffocates creativity. His great masterpieces are an example
of where Arabic calligraphy can head to.
I happen to know from first hand sources
that in one of Mr. Recep Tayeb Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, visits to
Damascus, President Assad presented to him one of al-Shaarani works. I wonder
what sort of reaction this work got from the Turkish master
calligraphers who, usually, are proud of their tajwidi tradition.
After the panel was over I had an
interesting talk with Mounir al-Shaarani
hoping to bring him to the U.S. to present his masterpieces of Arabic
calligraphy to the American public.
