The short video presents calligrapher Manzar Moghbeli demonstrating the nasta‘liq script. Notice the measured and deliberate pace of writing, the slow twisting and turning of the pen to modulate each stroke from right to left, and the arrangement of letters and words in relation to the baseline and to each other.
Nastaliq: The Genius of Persian Calligraphy is the first exhibition of its kind to focus on nasta‛liq, a calligraphic script that developed in the fourteenth century in Iran and remains one of the most expressive forms of aesthetic refinement in Persian culture to this day. More than twenty works ranging in date from 1400 to 1600, the height of nasta‛liq’s development, tell the story of the script’s transformation from a simple conveyer of the written word to an artistic form of its own. The narrative thread emphasizes the achievements of four of the greatest master calligraphers—Mir Ali Tabrizi, Sultan Ali Mashhadi, Mir Ali Haravi, and Mir Imad Hasani—whose manuscripts and individual folios are still appreciated not only for their content but also for their technical virtuosity and visual quality.
NASTA‛LIQ: THE GENIUS OF PERSIAN CALLIGRAPHY
September 13, 2014–March 22, 2015
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
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