With all the reports of conflict and violence in the Middle East, I thought it would be nice to present a positive side of the Arab world. In particular, I have long been fascinated by Arabic calligraphy, an art form that has been around for centuries and is still alive and well today.
The beauty and elegance inherent in the letters of the Arabic alphabet lends itself naturally to artistic endeavours. I present below a selection of Arabic calligraphy artworks both modern and ancient.
Let me know in the comments if you know of any other striking examples of this beautiful art form.
Love
Arabic Calligraphy: Love; credit: Osman Ozcay
Stunning Horse Calligraphy
Horse Calligraphy; credit: Cea
Your eyes do not deceive you – this is indeed an image of a horse made almost entirely of calligraphic writing of the text of the Throne Verse of the Quran.
Horse Calligraphy – Detail; credit: Cea
Illuminated Manuscript
Illuminated Manuscript; credit: Ariel Tabritha
This is a page from a 15th century Koran manuscript from Iran.
A Zoomorphic Horse Calligraphy
Zoomorphic Horse Calligraphy; credit: photos8.org
There is quite a tradition of this type of Arabic calligraphy, the main reason being the prohibition of depictions of humans or animals in some parts of the Islamic World during certain periods. So, this was a way to still depict animals or humans, while ostensibly complying with the prohibition.
Ottoman Calligraphy
Ottoman Calligraphy; credit: voyageAnatolya.blogspot.com
The Ottomans contributed many beautiful works of art to the corpus of Arabic calligraphy. Even today, there are a lot of Calligraphers in Turkey who devote their work to the form of the Arabic script.
Modern Calligraphic Artwork
Happiness and Freedom; credit: Charles Hope
This beautiful piece depicts happiness in large letters and lots of small ‘freedoms’ swerving around. The sentence below ‘happiness’ reads: Happiness comes to those who believe in it.
Bird Calligraphy
Bird Calligraphy; credit: Михал Орела
The Arab Spring
Graffiti; credit: Wolfgang Sterneck
Arab Spring; credit: Hussein Alazaat
The letters read: The Spring of the Letter.
Che Guevara
Che Guevara Calligraphy; credit: Hicham Chajai
Arabic Calligraphy Flower
Arabic Calligraphy Flower; credit: Curious Expeditions
Elephant
Elephant-Shaped Calligraphy; credit: Khaleelullah Chemnad
Wow, these are all really beautiful, especially the one of the horse. Thank you for sharing!
Really beautiful designs and art works looks appreciable, It will be more helpful if the art works of various types of calligraphy like zoomo,stylish and animations in calligraphy with name of the letters and meanings for ex we do not understand what was writte in horse, elephants tigers birds flowers styles of calligraphies, As I am drawing various designs it will be much helpful for my works. It is not a duplicate it is a first time comment
I love your website !
I also started with calligrpahy and wrote a blogpost about it
http://muslimsday.blogspot.de/2013/04/husn-i-hat.html
Wow, those are beautiful. You’re right, the Ottomans did a lot with calligraphy. There’s a very nice collection in the museum at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. I’d be interested in seeing more of these.
Arabic calligraphy shows the beauty of the Arabic language exhibiting beautiful design, shape and form. Thanks you for posting!
http://www.ezzat-art.com/
Salams, i was wondering what the horse calligraphy reads out?
What does it say?
JazakaAAllah
Wauw het is echt fantastisch