Arabic calligraphy: past and present
Islamic art
Arabic calligraphy continues to be a vibrant tradition up to the present day. In this Assignment, please write a 1 page essay (minimum 600 words) comparing and contrasting the calligraphy of a 10th-century folio from an early Qur’an (shown below) with the calligraphy of at least two of the following three contemporary artists: Soraya Sayed, Osman Waqilla, and Mouneer al-Shaarani (images and videos below). I have provided you with some basic information about the works. Your essay should include an introduction, two body paragraphs (one for each comparison) and a conclusion. Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence and a conclusion sentence. Your comparisons should be based on formal analysis of the three works. In your analysis, you might consider some of the following questions:
How do the early Qur’anic calligraphers and the contemporary artists use Arabic text in different ways (consider line, color, text, organization, materials, etc.)?
How do the contemporary artists reimagine or transform Arabic calligraphy through their art? Should these contemporary artists be described as calligraphers? Why or why not?
