An Online Exhibition by Reed Society
Beauty in
Solitude
Explore the Exhibit
Acknowledgements
Just as a piece of calligraphic art takes many people- ebru artists who make the paper, tehzib artists who illuminate the words, and the unseen chain of the artist’s teachers, this exhibition has been a labor of love that simply would not be possible without the efforts of many people.
Special thanks to Salman Malik who spent countless hours helping to make ideas into a reality. His creativity and technical expertise helped shaped the direction of this exhibition. Thank you also to our interns on this project: Fatima Tourk and Lailah Mozaffar. We are honored to have collaborated with The Walters Art Museum for this exhibition and, in particular, with Ashley Dimmig whose expertise added a vital component to the understanding of this art. Finally, much love and gratitude to all the artists who contributed to this endeavor.
The Walters Art Museum
The Walters Art Museum, located in Baltimore’s historic Mount Vernon Cultural District at North Charles and Centre Streets, is free for all. The collections include Egyptian and Greek art from the ancient world, medieval art and manuscripts, Asian art, Islamic art, 19th-century French paintings, Renaissance and Baroque art, jewelry and decorative arts and much more. At the time of his death in 1931, museum founder Henry Walters left his entire collection of art to the city of Baltimore. For more information visit thewalters.org.
Ashley Dimming
Ashley Dimmig was currently the Wieler-Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow in Islamic Art at the Walters Art Museum. Her curatorial work aimed to make Islamic art engaging and accessible to audiences in Baltimore and beyond. Within the broad scope of Islamic art history, her fields of specialization include a range of art and architecture from Turkish and Persian spheres in the early modern and modern periods. With a fine arts background in fiber arts and weaving, Dimmig is especially interested in textiles across the Islamic world. She is also interested in the historiography of the field of Islamic art and its intersections with museology, collecting, and issues of cultural heritage.
Her dissertation, “Making Modernity in Fabric Architecture: Imperial Tents in the Late Ottoman Period” (University of Michigan, 2019) views tents as imperial fabric architecture and analyzes their myriad functions and malleable meanings in the Ottoman court from the eighteenth century to the end of the empire in the early twentieth century. The dissertation was generously supported by the Ittleson Fellowship with the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts (CASVA), the Ekrem Hakkı Ayverdi Fellowship in Ottoman Architectural Culture and History at the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) in Istanbul, and the Rackham Merit Fellowship from the University of Michigan. Dimmig also holds two Master of Art degrees from Indiana University Bloomington and Koç University in Istanbul, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Kansas City Art Institute.
Şeyh Hamdullah
Şeyh Hamdullah (d. 1520)
Ottoman Turkey, 15th century
Opaque watercolor and ink on paper mounted on thin pasteboard bound between sheepskin-covered boards with gold and chamois leather
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, bequest of Henry Walters, 1931, acc. no. W.672 (featuring folio 5a)
by Ashley Dimmig
The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore is home to a beautiful album of calligraphy bound in an accordion format in the 18th century in the Ottoman empire. It contains nine calligraphic works attributed to Şeyh Hamdullah (d. 1520), known as the “father of Ottoman calligraphy.” [1] Indeed, the renowned artist ushered in a new age of calligraphic arts in the Ottoman empire with his revitalization of the so-called six scripts (sulus, nesih, muhakkak, reyhani, tevki’, and riqa’), especially nesih (naskh). The presence of this important calligrapher’s work in Baltimore is made all the more significant given that students who can trace their master-student lineage back through the centuries to Şeyh Hamdullah continue to learn the art of calligraphy through Mohamad Zakariya, also based in the DMV (District-Maryland-Virginia) area. Therefore, the linear chain of transmission (silsila, lit. “chain”) of knowledge comes full circle here in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
The album contains nine folios, each with a calligraphy framed in 18th-century decorated papers known as ebru (marbled). The pages include verses from the Qur’an, excerpts from Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad), and two karalama (lit. “blackening”), or pen exercises. One kıta (small calligraphic work) bears the name of the master calligrapher in its colophon (fol. 5a, seen above). The stylistic consistency throughout the album and the absence of other artists’ names suggests that all of the works are by the same hand—that is, the master-calligrapher Şeyh Hamdullah. In addition to the Walters, Şeyh Hamdullah calligraphies can be found in the collections of two other U.S. institutions: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the special collections at the University of Michigan—incidentally, where I earned my PhD last year (2019).
The collection of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Walters Art Museum contains nearly 200 Islamic manuscripts—including albums and single folios—in addition to the wealth of art objects of various media from the Islamic world in the collection, totaling approximately 1200 objects. This collection of art from Islamic cultures began with the purchase of a single magnificent Qur’an (W.563) by Henry Walters (1848-1931), the founder of the museum who bequeathed his collection to the city of Baltimore in 1931, “for the benefit of the public.” [2]
In the Ottoman tradition of album-making, albums were used as repositories of exemplars from which calligraphers-in-training could model their own work. Yet, albums—like many other kinds of art—can have multiple functions, which may change over the course of their lives, through time and across the world. Thus, in addition to serving as models for learning the art of calligraphy, albums—whether comprised of calligraphies, drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, or some combination thereof—can be thought of as hand-held museums, containing strategically curated two-dimensional works, which then can be admired, compared, displayed, or simply enjoyed in close proximity. Indeed, albums in the Ottoman empire were seen as a source of inspiration, reflection, and renewal. In her analysis of another important Ottoman album, compiled by Kalendar Pasha (d. 1616) for Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-1617), Emine Fetvacı says that Kalendar Pasha “presents the images in this album not only as tools for learning and sources of wisdom but also as means to counter troubling times and as sources for rejuvenation.” [3]
Albums can and do continue to bear such power today. In our current moment, as we process events in the world today and as we look to the future with both uncertainty and hope, the ability of art to touch the human spirit and bring us together is as important as ever. While accessible from anywhere in the world through its digital proxy, the album itself remains in trust at the Walters, while nearby the artistic traditions founded in its pages continue to thrive through the hands, hearts, and minds of living artists.
[1] Farhad and Rettig, The Art of the Qur’an, 82.
[2] Excursions through the Collection, 50; https://thewalters.org/about/history/
[3] Fetvacı, “Album of Ahmed I,” 129.
Works Cited & Further Reading
Akın-Kıvanç, Esra. Mustafa ‘Ali’s Epic Deeds of Artists: A Critical Edition of the Earliest Ottoman Text about the Calligraphers and Painters of the Islamic World. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
Avcıoğlu, Nebahat. “Introduction: The Culture of Albums in the Long 18th Century,” Journal18, Issue 6 Albums (Fall 2018): http://www.journal18.org/3224. DOI: 10.30610/6.2018.1.
Farhad, Massumeh and Simon Rettig. The Art of the Qur’an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2016.
Fetvacı, Emine. “The Album of Ahmed I,” Ars Orientalis 42 (2012): 127-138.
Simpson, Marianna Shreve. “‘A Gallant Era’: Henry Walters, Islamic Art, and the Kelekian Connection,” Ars Orientalis 30: Exhibiting the Middle East: Collections and Perceptions of Islamic Art (2000): 91-112.
Walters Art Museum. The Walters Art Museum: Excursions through the Collection. Baltimore, MD: The Walters Art Museum, 2020.
Şeyh Hamdullah (d. 1520)
Ottoman Turkey, 16th-18th century
Opaque watercolor and ink on paper mounted on thin pasteboard bound between sheepskin-covered boards with gold and chamois leather
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, bequest of Henry Walters, 1931, acc. no. W.672 (featuring folio 5a)
by Mohamed Zakariya
At the Reed Society, we hope to build an accessible literature about arts and concepts that remain somewhat hidden, in difficult languages and cultural zones. One such art is Arabic-script calligraphy, and a good place to start is with Sheyh Hamdullah, an Ottoman artist, athlete, and gentleman from the 15th-16th centuries. For calligraphers like myself, he is a constant inspiration. Those who take calligraphic training and are honored with the icazet, an unofficial license, partake of the many gifts this man left to posterity. When I go to Istanbul, I always visit his grave in the Karaca Ahmet Cemetery, as do most calligraphers.
Sheyh Hamdullah was born around 1436 in the town of Amasya in Ottoman Anatolia, a place famous for its many calligraphers. His father was a sheyh (or sheikh) of the Suhraverdi order, and Hamdullah often called himself “son of the sheyh.” The grand master of the archery lodge, Hamdullah was also a sheyh of the Sufi path. His teachers in calligraphy were trained in the style of writing perfected by Yakut el-Mustasimi of Baghdad, and Hamdullah excelled in these methods and the literature associated with them.
When Prince Beyazid, son of Mehmed the Conquerer, became governor of Amasya, he took calligraphy lessons from Sheyh Hamdullah and received his icazet from him. The two became life-long friends. Beyazid became Sultan Beyazid II in 1481 and, the following year, invited Sheyh Hamdullah to join him in Constantinople (now Istanbul). The sheyh was given a workshop in the Topkapi Palace, where he would write and teach and where the sultan could visit and watch him work. While there, the sheyh designed a good deal of monumental calligraphy around Constantinople, especially in the Beyazid Mosque and precinct, and in other cities.
By this time, however, calligraphy had become rather stodgy and rigid, and the sheyh was inspired to undertake a basic overhaul of the art, top to bottom, using the best examples of Yakut’s original works. He was shortly able to transform the six proportional scripts (sulus, nesih, muhakkak, reyhani, tevki’, and riqa’) into a new and vivacious medium. Using these scripts, he wrote 47 mushafs (Korans) and numerous other works, inscriptions, and murakkaas (albums), at least three of which are in collections in the United States. The sheyh’s sulus (thuluth) script, while magnificent, was still a bit stiff. It was his nesih (naskh), enlivened with vitality, that really took off, becoming the most important script in the Ottoman repertoire.
In addition to calligraphy, the multi-talented Sheyh Hamdullah was a champion archer, swimmer, tailor, and falconer. He was a brilliant maker of arrows and composite bows and taught archery to the best masters of the day. The sheyh lived into his late 80s and died in 1520.
When we look at his work and at other Ottoman calligraphy, we need to be aware that these are normally joint productions, involving many people. The calligraphy is the basis of the piece. But it is the assembly, polishing, gilding, mounting, painting, and sometimes binding or monumental carving and architectural application that finish the work and make an art object.
The known and unknown geniuses of calligraphy who followed the great founding master of Baghdad, Ibnul-Bawwab, paved the road of calligraphy so it could, in the hands of Sheyh Hamdullah, begin to become a true art. The teaching method he developed is the origin of the method we use today. His students went on to teach others, over the generations creating something of a family tree of calligraphic genealogy, a key to study the evolution of the art.
Created in Istanbul, Turkey
Mohamed Zakariya
Mohamed Zakariya
Light black ink, ahar paper dyed with log wood, ebru paper, gold
Fine Art Group, LLC., copyright 2020
The art of calligraphy can make the same old thing new again, and this is my version of the text from 2008. The piece is a levha (panel) written in ink on specially prepared and dyed paper. It is wet-laminated with marble paper borders made with indigo pigment The script is Jeli (large and clear) Talik.
When the corona virus pandemic appeared, most of us realized it would be an event of Goya-esque proportions. Indeed, those who are familiar with the terrible plagues that have affected Europe and Asia in the past have some sense of what we are facing. That is why I chose this simple phrase. We can all chip in, do our part, and be as brave as we can be. Help is around the corner. It will pass.
When the plague of 2020 struck, some old people like me were hardly hit. We didn’t suffer as did the many who lost jobs and went hungry or those who, sadly, perished and ended up in mass graves. We won’t forget. We marvel at our friends who survived, grieve those who were lost, and worry about what’s to come. Now is now.
As for me, cut off from my loving students and friends, I simply have to work. For my wife and myself, that is our nature. Studying and writing essays and correspondence have become my daily tasks. I hope my recent minor surgery will allow me to practice calligraphy again, which will mean learning it anew. Pen, pencil, paper, books, things to learn, life goes on …
As I was writing about Sheyh Hamdullah, the founding father of Ottoman calligraphy, I came across this hadith (saying of the Prophet), which he copied in a murakkaa (album). It seems particularly apt for these days of quarantine, and this is it:
“The Prophet of God, may God revere and greet him, said, ‘Be in the world as if you are a stranger, or crossing a road, and count yourself among the already dead. Whenever you wake up, don’t talk about tonight, and when it is night time, don’t talk about the morning. Take from your health for your illness, and from your youth for your old age, and from your ease for your labor, and from your life, for your demise. Because you don’t even know what your name will be tomorrow.’”
Zakariya returned to the United States in 1967 and worked with the antiquarian impresario Oscar Meyer, for whom he crafted a variety of instruments from the history of science, as well as other artistic constructs. In the early 1970s, he moved to Virginia, where he found a wife, some cats, and a home.
In 1984 Zakariya went to Istanbul at the invitation of the Research Center for Islamic History, Art, and Culture to study Arabic-script calligraphy with two Turkish masters. He subsequently received icazets in Sulus/Nesih scripts from Hasan Celebi, in 1988, and in Talik script from the late Ali Alparslan, in 1997. Since then, he has pursued the calligraphic life at home and abroad, concentrating primarily on calligraphy in classical Arabic and Ottoman Turkish. He has had numerous exhibitions and fulfilled many commissions and teaches the art to a circle of serious students.
From 2004 to 2012, Zakariya was a member of the Joint Advisory Board, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the university in 2012.
Zakariya is represented by Suleyman Cooke, Salon D’Art. His work may be seen at www.MohamedZakariya.com.
Learn More about Ottomon Style Calligraphy
Created outside of Washington, DC
Nihad Dukhan
Nihad Dukhan
Japanese ink on ahar paper
gold and color illumination by Zahra Masumi 2016
Art starts with a line. A line that is first pursued for its intrinsic beauty and then purified. This is what I try to employ when I use my reed pen to produce the lines that form Arabic letters, and words, that are combined into an Arabic/Islamic calligraphy artwork. I also adhere to all of the well-established and strict rules of this time-honored art in terms of size, shape and proportions.
My selection of the text is vital. As a calligrapher I think I must have a connection to the text, and be inspired by its meaning, and by its music when it is vocalized. The text must also contain a message that can resonate with the viewer. I mostly select verses from the Quran, saying of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and Arabic poetry. My text is usually short, which contributes to clarity and efficiency of my calligraphic designs.
As a Muslim Arab-American and a master calligrapher, my predicament has been two-fold: a) how to penetrate the language and cultural barriers and touch people who do not know Arabic, and b) how to reach Arabs and Muslims who have little or no knowledge of the significance of Arabic/Islamic calligraphy. In order to conquer this, I endeavor to produce calligraphic designs that are iconic, provoking and able to project intense visual impact- an impact that is compelling, and hopefully memorable. My calligraphic work has been described as “sculpting in two dimensions.”
My designs, like most of Arabic/Islamic calligraphy designs, often contain themes concerning the meaning of life, beauty, truth, love, kindness and goodness. A successful design combines such meanings with beauty provided by the calligraphy. As such, I strive to make each of my calligraphic pieces a quiet invitation to mediation. The minimalism in my designs offers a message of silence- a breathing space that counters the clutter, chatter and dust of the complex modern life. This can’t be more relevant in this strange time of Corona.
I am hoping that my effort will establish, or strengthen, people’s connection to and appreciation of Arab and Islamic cultures. It would be so satisfying for me if some people use my artwork as a vehicle to develop new capacity for beauty and enhanced cross-cultural competency. One of my aspirations is to contribute to restoring the stature of the art of Arabic/Islamic calligraphy as one of the excellences that embodies Islam’s spirit and serves as the emblem of its civilization.
“Each of my pieces is a quiet invitation to meditation.”
His interest in calligraphy began when he was in the sixth grade in Gaza, Palestine. He studied with the noted Istanbul grand master calligrapher Hasan Çelebi (pronounced Chalabi) in Thuluth and Naskh styles and received his ijazah (master of calligraphy degree) in 2009 after 11 years of study. He also studied Taliq style with master calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya, and received his other ijazah in 2013, after 7 years of study. Between 2013 and 2015, Dukhan relocated to Istanbul where he received advanced training under guidance of master calligrapher Davud Bektaş in Jaly Thuluth style.
His work has been exhibited in US cities and in Istanbul, Turkey. His designs are sold in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Japan. His commissions include framed works for homes and offices, company logos, book covers, CD jackets, wedding invitations, and others.
Professor Dukhan is active in promoting Arabic/Islamic calligraphy and increasing people’s awareness of its cultural significance through exhibits, lectures and workshops. His web site is at www.ndukhan.com and can be contacted at ndukhan@att.net.
Created in Detroit, Michigan
Nuria Garcia Masip
Nuria Garcia Masip
Black soot ink on ahar paper
50x44 cm
Most of a calligrapher’s time is passed in isolation. So I greeted the first weeks of confinement without too much worry. However, as the weeks passed by and the news of close friends and family trickled in, the weight of the tragedy started to crystallise. I couldn’t concentrate on making any new calligraphy compositions, do any research, or much of anything really, so I focused instead on writing a beautiful prayer I had already worked on some years back: “O Thou whose Name is a medicine and whose Remembrance is a cure” (Yā man ismuhu dawā’ wa dhikruhu shifā’). The meaning and the essence of these verses brought about great solace and it slowly helped me focus on the essentials and regain some sense of normality. I then started looking for new pieces to write and opened my small notebook of sketches - where I keep short sentences, texts and ideas for possible compositions - and I came upon two verses by Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi which I love very much which say: “Thus hidden things are revealed by (their) opposites. (And) since God has no opposite, He is hidden. The full poem starts like this:
“You never see red, green, and reddish brown until
you see light, prior to (seeing) these three (colors).
But because your mind was distracted by color, the colors became a veil to you from (perceiving) the light.
Since the colors are hidden at night, you have
therefore found (that) the sight of colors is (necessarily) due to light.
(For) without external light, there isn’t (any) sight
of color. (It is) the same way (with the sight of) inward mental colors.”
— Mathnawi I: 1121-1149
Translation from dar-al-masnavi.org
Translation from dar-al-masnavi.org
The full poem delves into the symbolism of light, the veils of existence and the mysteries of knowledge… however I was struck by its most literal meaning in view of the circumstances we are living today, how so many things we took for granted are now revealed in light of their being absent. I thus started on this new composition which was novel for me in many ways. It was the first time I wrote a piece by Rumi, and the first time I wrote it in Persian using the jaly thuluth script. So for me this piece has been, without intending so, a sort of breakthrough at such a significant time in our lives. May the Light and Love present in every cell in the universe heal and protect us…
She holds a Masters in Art History from Sorbonne University, has won prestigious prices in international calligraphy competitions and her work forms part of various private and museum collections. She has also organized numerous workshops and conferences on this art to promote the art of calligraphy internationally. Her work is firmly rooted in the classical school of calligraphy and she enjoys preserving the techniques and materials of the tradition. Nuria is currently living in Paris where she teaches, researches, and works on calligraphy. You can find more of her work at her website, Nuria Art.
Created in Paris, France
Elinor Aishah Holland
Elinor Aishah Holland
Lamp black ink and gold on ahar paper
Service to humanity brings connection.
Human beings are inherently connected. This time of being isolated physically has been a reminder of what it means to be one small part of something much greater than ourselves. We have bonds to others that are not always apparent, but they are becoming apparent now. One way of acknowledging our connection is through service. Calligraphers serve humanity by helping to make manifest the Qur’an and other literary forms of wisdom. When a calligrapher makes a piece of artwork we are throwing light upon words of truth in a way that awakens the eyes and the intellect of the beholder. In my practice I have sought to bring the beauty and the meaning of sublime scripture and literature by making them available in both English and Arabic languages.
“We (calligraphy artists) are throwing light upon words of truth in a way that awakens the eyes and the intellect of the beholder...”
Created outside of New York City
Deniz Öktem Bektaş
Top line; Surah Yusuf, verse 76, from the Holy Quran, “above every knower there is a higher knower.”
Text under; Surah Alaq from the Holy Quran.
Deniz Öktem Bektaş
Soot ink on ahar paper
2018
As a mother, these difficult times have been enriching in terms of family life on many levels. In our home-office workspace with my husband, we have managed to squeeze in my sons's online education as well. While he has been joining his classes, we have tried to continue working as we did before. But it has been a huge challenge to find time in solitude to keep working on calligraphy. My son studying, my husband sitting at his table and I practicing the script of Naskh in our home-office living room have proved once more that motherhood means finding solutions to all kinds of difficulties and making life easier for each member of the family.
During the quarantine weeks, I have practiced random letters, letter combinations and words in the script of Naskh and this resulted in a "practice art piece." It hasn’t been easy to concentrate on calligraphy in this chaotic time so I have chosen to keep my hand in shape by writing as much as I could without forcing myself to perfect a particular text. The minutes I have managed to get at my table have been precious as always. Calligraphy heals, strengthens, provides comfort and connects one to the Creator.
I pray to Allah that this time shall pass very soon and that we all come out of it with lots of blessings.
“Calligraphy heals, strengthens, provides comfort and connects one to the Creator.”
While working on her masters at the Department of Communication, Culture and Technology, she met Mohamed Zakariya with whom she started calligraphy lessons in riq’a and naskh. Coming back to Turkey at the end of 2002, she continued to take calligraphy lessons with Hasan Çelebi and Davut Bektaş in the scripts of riq’a, naskh and thuluth.
In 2007, she obtained her ijaza in the naskh and thuluth scripts. She received encouragement awards in naskh at the 7th International Calligraphy Competition organized by IRCICA in 2007 and at the Calligraphy Biennial in Sharjah in 2008. In the national calligraphy competition conducted by the Presidency of Religious Affairs of Turkey (2015), she received 3rd prize in writing several pages from the Qur’an in the script of naskh. Mrs. Öktem has participated in exhibitions in Turkey and internationally, and continues her work alongside her husband, Davut Bektaş, in their studio in Istanbul.
Created in Istanbul, Turkey
Khalid Casado
Quran (8:70) “He will give you something better than what was taken from you and will forgive you”
Khalid Casado
Ink and gold on Japanese treated paper. Ebru paper by Mohammed Zakariya. 42,6 x 40,6 cm 2020
This is the second version I have made of this composition. The first one had certain problems which Nuria, my teacher, suggested me to change. The Ebru paper on the borders, is a lovely piece from Mohammed Zakariya that he himself made back in the days and gave it to me a few years ago so I could use it in one of my pieces. It has been waiting ever since, rolled in my studio. Since we are sharing this project with him, I thought it was the perfect time to use it.
I feel like this time of isolation is hiding something. It may be some changes we probably need to do in our lives, new doors which we just have to find the keys to open. It might be the perfect time to apply all the knowledge we have been accumulating until this point. In fact, being in solitude gives you the time and space to do it. It seems to be the perfect time to change routines, to incorporate new personal tendencies like, for example, learning how to connect with others in different levels of consciousness.. your parents, your teachers, your loved ones, whoever but since we can’t visit nobody, I think we need to develop that aspect which I believe is in human nature but most of us havent got access to it yet. At least voluntarily. However, I keep working on develop my skills in the art of calligraphy trying to take it to a higher level and going through a deep spiritual path in the process. I try to experiment a change in myself that can help to change the way this world vibrates.
“I keep working on develop my skills in the art of calligraphy trying to take it to a higher level and going through a deep spiritual path in the process. I try to experiment a change in myself that can help to change the way this world vibrates.”
Two years later, he started taking lessons from the master calligrapher Ferhat Kurlu who, along with Nuria, became one of his strongest influences. In 2014, and after having devoted himself completely to learning this art, he received his icazet or calligraphy diploma in sülüs and nesih scripts. In 2015, he traveled for the first time to the USA and met the master calligrapher Mohammed Zakariya, a person who has also inspired and influenced his work. Currently, he works as a calligrapher and, following the tradition, he keeps in touch with his masters in order to keep learning and being inspired by them. More of his work can be seen at his website, Sacred Lines.
Created in Madrid, Spain
© 2024 Reed Society for the Sacred Arts