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Calligraphy is the art of writing. In a more restricted use the term is frequently employed to refer to the products of professional writing masters working in Europe from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Specimens of their work appear in the copy books produced as models for students of handwriting.
The earliest of these manuals was that of Ludovico degli Arrighi, also known as Vicentino, which was issued in Rome in 1522 and gave an example of a semi-formal script, the chancery hand. In the 20th century there has been a revival of calligraphy in Europe, begun by Edward Johnston in England and continued in Germany by Rudolf Koch.
It is, however, in the Far East that calligraphy has been most highly developed, especially by the Chinese. They regard calligraphy not so much as good penmanship as a fine art in the fullest sense of the word, very often a higher art than painting, because it is purer and more spontaneous. It is an art of the stroke or the line executed by the use of the brush. Both the strokes themselves and the composition of the whole must be organized according to certain general principles.
There are five recognised calligraphic styles: the bronze or seal, the clerical, the formal or modal, the informal or 'walking' and the cursive or 'dancing'. Strokes fall into many categories, each with its own dynamic and characteristic expression. The ideal of the Chinese calligrapher is rhythmic vitality, and the dramatic quality of each stroke and the organic whole of a character must be such as to realize the 'four essentials' of beauty in calligraphy, namely shun, a spirited style, ch'i, a strong brush stroke, yun, rhythm or balance and wei, aesthetic quality, interest and taste.
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