nonist comments

charms of the flourish

in the introduction to the book masters of calligraphy, originally published in 1923 in german under the title meister der schreibkunst aus drei jahrhunderten, there is the following: “today the charms of a thriving calligraphy, expression and beauty, are in danger of perishing. handwriting in everyday life is disappearing or becoming superficial or coarse. with it yet another branch of honorable human artistic endeavor is dying out.” that was initially written in 23 and with each successive printing, in 36 and again in 81, the sentiment became more true. by now i think it’s safe to say the art of handwriting, as it was once understood, is no longer dying but really and truly dead.

here’s some more from the book’s intro:

handwriting could and should be the most direct personal expression of human visual creativity. the hand that wields the pencil, pen, or brush is stirred so vigorously by the moods, temperament, and even the character of the writer that we are able to distinguish and interpret the features of a man’s writing just as we do his face. creative people feel the urge to go beyond the purely necessary, beyond mere, legibility, and to arrange the letters, words, lines, and sections into a surface pattern, to enrich them with linear flourishes, the overflow of their high spirits. writing becomes art.

indeed. below are a few of the hundreds of fine examples of the handwriter’s art as collected in the book. (click each for full sized version)

weyess, zurich 1662

grahl, dresden 1670

carpenter, harlem 1620

roelands, vlissigen 1616

hercolani, bologna 1570

pisani, genova 1640

van den velde, haerlem 1621

allais, paris 1648

senault, paris 1667

barbedor, paris 1659

cocker, london 1660

richard clark, portsmouth 1758

they are pretty alright. but we can’t really morn handwriting’s passing can we? on the one hand it’s a shame. the care and artistry of proper handwriting were lovely things. on the other hand i’m grateful to not be compelled to put that same care and artistry into every single bit of writing i do. what a hassle that’d be. imagine a post it reading “gone to the store” intricately inked with a thousand curling flourishes. no thanks. so as with other victims of progress handwriting will now be relegated to the world of the artists alone, which is fine i think, they’ll take good care of it.

if you believe all the statistics we have only the weakest grasp on our language as it, and it’s weakening still. so should a mangled language be interpreted into anything other than pixels and throw-away copy-paper pigment? why should words like “ain’t” and “nucular” get any artistic treatment? emoticons will do just fine for we philistines i think.

Read Less...

posted by jmorrison on 02/22 | sights & sounds - art | permalink | send entry

another alarmingly elaborate example of decorative calligraphy can be found in paulus franck’s alphabet of decorated initials… I suspect that the art of calligraphy has not yet been truly effaced, although it certainly is marginalised.

even in the heyday of copperplate writing, there were those who disdained a trained hand, and valued individuality at the expense of neatly uniform legibility: Nature would prompt every individual to have a distinct sort of writing, as she has given a countenance—a voice—and a manner. The flexibility of the muscles differs with every individual, and the hand will follow the direction of the thoughts, and the emotions and the habits of the writers. The phlegmatic will portray his words, while the playful haste of the volatile will scarcely sketch them; the slovenly will blot and efface and scrawl, while the neat and orderly-minded will view themselves in the paper before their eyes. The merchant’s clerk will not write like the lawyer or the poet. Even nations are distinguished by their writing; the vivacity and variableness of the Frenchman, and the delicacy and suppleness of the Italian, are perceptibly distinct from the slowness and strength of the pen discoverable in the phlegmatic German, Dane, and Swede. When we are in grief, we do not write as we should in joy…—Isaac D’Israeli.

posted by misteraitch on 02/22 at 01:39 PM

wow. “alarmingly elaborate” is right. franck’s capitals very nearly cease to be letter forms at all. very nice. thanks aitch. and thanks for the d’israeli as well.

posted by jmorrison on 02/22 at 02:43 PM

Old German was written in Fraktur - which is perfect to add some artistic bits & pieces. It was actually Hitler who introduced a new ‘Schreibschrift’ which was easer to write and less artistic as well… see here and here.

posted by orangeguru on 02/22 at 05:02 PM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.