This New York Gallery is Exploring the Intersection of Arabic Calligraphy & Abstract Art
SceneArabia, February 24, 2020
By Nadine Fahmy
Calligraphy is so deeply embedded in Arab communities’ lives that it has become something of a banal sight to most who live in its direct proximity everyday. But the history of the evolution of Arabic calligraphy finds itself intertwined with the origins of abstract art in the Arab world – and even its evolution beyond the region – for centuries.
Whether for its aesthetic malleability as an alphabet which naturally lends itself to create forms out of every letter, or the social and political meanings it carries, Arabic calligraphy and art have almost never been separate; leading even to the development of an entire art movement devoted to the intersection between calligraphy and modern, abstract art: hurufiyya.
An exhibit in New York University’s Grey Art Gallery titled Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s-1980s, takes on the evolution of that art form and its variations, gathering nearly 90 works by artists from across the region, including Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).