Starting with the blank canvas

A subscription, graffiti on the wall and elements of penmanship in a pupils’ copy-book originate from calligraphy. The Muscovites have forgotten what calligraphy is, but on one of these days the best font designers of the world decided to remember them about this kind of art. Indeed, as the Chinese proverb says, the words are ending but their meaning is endless.

Write it beautiful

With a light movement the master touches ink in an inkpot with a brush. After that he concentrates on his thoughts and seeks for harmony. One moment – and a gorgeous hieroglyph appears on paper. Chang-Wang Fu does this blindfold.   The heir of the dynasty of Chinese calligraphers came to the presentation of the International Exhibition of Calligraphy to his outstanding calligraphic skills internationally and give the master-class.  
“You listen to music and understand it. Calligraphy is also music, though not for the ears but for the eyes”, explains Chang-Wang Fu and paints a handsome flourish in a note-book of a woman sitting by his side. 

Art for soul and body

Calligraphy is the art which makes people fascinated with any text written in any unknown language. The pleasure of calligraphy is that people can read love and hate in the motions of brush strokes and lines of letterforms. Moreover, as a Chinese proverb puts it, “calligraphy is a remedy and gymnastics for a human soul and mind”. And body, what’s more. According to medical research, calligraphic studies are useful for improvement of fine motor skills, normalize blood pressure and recover strengths. 

It is contagious

What is in common between Oriental calligraphic and philosophic tradition and Russia? The project’s initiator Aleksey Shaburov believes they have much in common.
“In fact the art of calligraphy dates back to origination of handwriting. Just remember the first Russian Gospels: they are genuine masterpieces!”, says Mr. Shaburov. “There is nothing surprising about holding the first International Calligraphic Exhibition in Russia. The calligraphic traditions in my country are as strong as in China or Japan. By the way, at the moment the exhibition participants are preparing the first handwritten variant of the Russian Constitution. If the things go right in autumn we will present the Handwritten Constitution to the Russian President”.
“Russians are brilliant students and grasp everything quickly! However, nationality and religion are not important if a person wants to learn calligraphy. One has to remember about the three virtues: concentration, harmony and clean workplace”.
A 35-year-old self-employed Ruslan is one of the potential calligraphic students. Before he hadn’t been aware of the graphic design except for Excel spreadsheets.  His girlfriend was into calligraphy. And now Ruslan asks calligraphers to let him attend the calligraphic seminars. “My girlfriend infected me with calligraphy. I cannot live without it”, explains Ruslan.

Ekaterina Slauta

BY THE WAY

The foremost world calligraphers from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Baltic States, USA, Israel, Syria, UAE, China and Japan took part in the presentation of the International Exhibition of Calligraphy - Type Designers of the World Unite! Apart from handwriting masterpieces of different historic epochs, they also exhibited antique brushes, pens, inkpots, a collection of miniature books and museum specimen of historic manuscripts: for instance, the Tablet of commandments in Classical Hebrew and Archangel Gospel of 1059 which is one of the most ancient Russian books. 

Source: Metro, Moscow city edition

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