The Hurufiyya movement ( ar, حروفية ''ḥurufiyyah'', adjectival form ''ḥurufī'', 'letters' (of the alphabet)) is an aesthetic movement that emerged in the second half of the twentieth century amongst
Muslim artists, who used their understanding of traditional
Islamic calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy, in the languages which use Arabic alphabet or the alphabets derived from it. It includes Arabic, Persian, Ottoman, and Urdu calligraphy.Chapman, Caroline (2012). ...
within the precepts of
modern art. By combining tradition and modernity, these artists worked towards developing a culture specific visual language, which instilled a sense of national identity in their respective nation states, at a time when many of these states where shaking off colonial rule and asserting their independence. They adopted the same name as the
Hurufi, an approach of
Sufism which emerged in the late 14th–early 15th century. Art historian
Sandra Dagher has described Hurufiyya as the most important movement to emerge in
Arabic art
Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide ...
in the 20th century.
Definition
The term ''hurifiyya'' is derived from the Arabic term ''harf'' which means 'letter' (of the alphabet). When the term is used to describe a contemporary art movement, it explicitly references a Medieval system of teaching involving
political theology and lettrism. In this theology, letters were seen as primordial signifiers and manipulators of the cosmos. Thus, the term is charged with Sufi intellectual and esoteric meaning.
The hurufiyya art movement (also known as the Al-hurufiyyah movement or the Letrism movement) refers to the use of calligraphy as a graphic element within an artwork, typically an abstract work. The pan-Arab hurufiyya art movement is distinct from the
Letterist International
The Letterist International (LI) was a Paris-based collective of radical artists and cultural theorists between 1952 and 1957. It was created by Guy Debord and Gil J. Wolman rejoined by Jean-Louis Brau and Serge Berna as a schism from Isidore ...
which had an Algerian section founded in
Chlef
Chlef ( ar, الشلف, Berber: Clef) is the capital of Chlef Province, Algeria. Located in the north of Algeria, west of the capital, Algiers, it was founded in 1843, as Orléansville, on the ruins of Roman ''Castellum Tingitanum''. In 1962, i ...
in 1953 by
Hadj Mohamed Dahou.
The term ''hurufiyya'' has become somewhat controversial and has been rejected by a number of scholars, including
Wijdan Ali
Princess Wijdan Ali ( ar, وجدان علي) (born 29 August 1939 in Baghdad, Iraq) is a Jordanian artist, art historian, educator and diplomat. She is the ex-wife of Prince 'Ali bin Naif of Jordan. She is best known for her efforts to revive the ...
, Nada Shabout and Karen Dabrowska. An alternative term, ''al-madrassa al-khattiya fil-fann'' ('calligraphic school of art') has been proposed to describe the experimental use of calligraphy in modern Arabic art.
Brief history and philosophy
![Amir Khusraw Dihlavi - An Old Sufi Laments His Lost Youth - Google Art Project](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Amir_Khusraw_Dihlavi_-_An_Old_Sufi_Laments_His_Lost_Youth_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
Traditional calligraphic art was bound by strict rules, which amongst other things, confined it to devotional works and prohibited the representation of humans in manuscripts. Practising calligraphers trained with a master for many years in order to learn both the technique and the rules governing calligraphy. Contemporary hurufiyya artists, however, broke free from these rules, allowing Arabic letters to be deconstructed, altered and included in abstract artworks.
The use of traditional Arabic elements, notably, calligraphy, in modern art arose independently in various Islamic states; few of these artists working in this area, had knowledge of each other, allowing for different manifestations of hurufiyya to develop in different regions. In Sudan, for instance, the movement was known as the ''Old Khartoum School'', and assumed a distinctive character, in which both African motifs and calligraphy were combined, while media such as leather and wood replaced canvas to provide a distinct African style. In Morocco, the movement was accompanied by the replacement of traditional media for oils; artists favoured traditional dyes such as henna, and embraced weaving, jewellery and tattoo as well as including traditional Amazigh motifs. In Jordan, it was generally known as the ''al-hurufiyyah'' movement, while in Iran, it was called the
Saqqa-Khaneh movement.
Some scholars have suggested that
Madiha Omar, who was active in the US and Baghdad from the mid-1940s, was the pioneer of the movement, since she was the first to explore the use of Arabic script in a contemporary art context in the 1940s and exhibited hurufiyya-inspired works in Washington in 1949. However, other scholars have suggested that she was a ''precursor'' to Hurufiyya. Yet other scholars have suggested that the hurufiyya art movement probably began in North Africa, in the area around Sudan, with the work of
Ibrahim el-Salahi, who initially explored Coptic manuscripts, a step that led him to experiment with Arabic calligraphy. It is clear that by the early 1950s, a number of artists in different countries were experimenting with works based on calligraphy, including the Iraqi painter and sculptor,
Jamil Hamoudi who experimented with the graphic possibilities of using Arabic characters, as early as 1947; Iranian painters, Nasser Assar (b. 1928) (
:fr:Nasser Assar) and
Hossein Zenderoudi, who won a prize at the 1958 Paris Biennale.
Hurufiyya artists rejected Western art concepts, and instead grappled with a new artistic identity drawn from within their own culture and heritage. These artists successfully integrated Islamic visual traditions, especially calligraphy, into contemporary, indigenous compositions. The common theme amongst hurufiyya artists is that they all tapped into the beauty and mysticism of Arabic calligraphy, but used it in a modern, abstract sense. Although hurufiyya artists struggled to find their own individual dialogue with nationalism, they also worked towards a broader aesthetic that transcended national boundaries and represented an affiliation with an Arab identity in the post-colonial period.
The art historian, Christiane Treichl, explains how calligraphy is used in contemporary art:
: "They deconstruct writing, exploit the letter and turn it into an indexical sign of calligraphy, tradition and cultural heritage. As the sign is purely aesthetic, and only linguistic in its cultural association, it opens hitherto untravelled avenues for interpretation, and attracts different audiences, yet still maintains a link to the respective artist's own culture... Hurufiyya artists do away with the signifying function of language. The characters become pure signs, and temporarily emptied of their referential meaning, they become available for new meanings."
The hurufiyya art movement was not confined to painters, but also included important ceramicists such as the Jordanian,
Mahmoud Taha, who combined traditional aesthetics, including calligraphy, with skilled craftsmanship, and sculptors, such as the Qatari,
Yousef Ahmad
Yousef Ahmad ( ar, يوسف أحمد; born 1955 in Doha, Qatar) is a Qatari artist, art adviser, collector, writer and educator in the field of art. He is a leading figure of Qatar's cultural development and regularly represent his country at inter ...
and the Iraqi sculptors,
Jawad Saleem and
Mohammed Ghani Hikmat. Nor, was the movement organised along formal lines across the Arab-speaking nations. In some Arab nations, hurufiyya artists formed formal groups or societies, such as Iraq's ''Al Bu'd al Wahad'' (or the
One Dimension Group)" which published a manifesto, while in other nations artists working independently in the same city had no knowledge of each other.
Art historian, Dagher, has described hurufiyya as the most important movement to emerge in the Arab world in the 20th-century.
However, the ''Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture,'' while acknowledging its importance in terms of encouraging Arab nationalism, describes hurufiyya as neither "a movement nor a school."
Evolution of hurufiyya
Art historians have identified three generations of hurufiyya artists:
: ''First generation'': The pioneers, who were inspired by the independence of their nations, searched for a new aesthetic language that would allow them to express their nationalism. These artists rejected European techniques and media, turning to indigenous media and introducing Arabic calligraphy into their art. For this group of artists, Arabic letters are a central feature of the artwork. First generation artists include: the Jordanian artist,
Princess Wijdan Ali, the Sudanese artist,
Ibrahim el-Salahi; the Iraqi artists,
Shakkir Hassan Al Sa'id,
Jamil Hamoudi and
Jawad Saleem; the Lebanese painter and poet,
Etel Adnan
Etel Adnan ( ar, إيتيل عدنان; 24 February 1925 – 14 November 2021) was a Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and visual artist. In 2003, Adnan was named "arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American author writing today" ...
and the Egyptian artist, Ramzi Moustafa (b. 1926).
: ''Second generation'': Artists, most of whom live in exile, but reference their traditions, culture and language in their artworks. The artist,
Dia Azzawi
Dia Al-Azzawi (Arabic: ضياء العزاوي) is an Iraqi painter and sculptor, now living and working in London, and one of the pioneers of modern Arab art. He is noted for incorporating Arabic script into his paintings. Active in the arts comm ...
is typical of this generation.
: ''Third generation'': Contemporary artists who have absorbed international aesthetics, and who employ Arabic and Persian script occasionally. They deconstruct the letters, and use them in a purely abstract and decorative manner. The work of
Golnaz Fathi and
Lalla Essaydi is representative of the third generation.
Types of hurufiyya art
Hurufiyya art involved a very diverse range of "explorations into the abstract, graphic, and aesthetic properties of Arabic letters." Art historians, including Wijdan Ali and Shirbil Daghir, have attempted to develop a way of classifying different types of hurufiyya art. Ali identifies the following, which she describes as ''schools'' within the ''movement'':
; Pure calligraphy
: Artworks in which calligraphy forms both the background and the foreground.
; Neoclassical
: Works that adhere to the rules of 13th-century calligraphy. An example of this is the work of
Khairat Al-Saleh (b. 1940)
![Dia-Al-Azzawi-Portrait-Picture](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Dia-Al-Azzawi-Portrait-Picture.jpg)
; Modern classical
: Works that blend pure calligraphy with other motifs, such as repeating geometric patterns. Ahmad Moustaffa (b. 1943) is representative of this style
;
Calligraffiti
Calligraffiti is an art form that combines calligraphy, typography, and graffiti. It can be classified as either abstract expressionism or abstract vandalism. It is defined as a visual art that integrates letters into compositions that attempt to ...
: Artwork, employing script, but which follows no rules and where artists require no formal training. Calligraffiti artists employ their own ordinary handwriting within a modern composition. Artists may reshape letters, or simply invent new letters that reference traditional Arabic scripts. Artists that belong to this school include: Lebanese painter and poet,
Etel Adnan
Etel Adnan ( ar, إيتيل عدنان; 24 February 1925 – 14 November 2021) was a Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and visual artist. In 2003, Adnan was named "arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American author writing today" ...
; Egyptian painter, Ramzi Moustafa (b. 1926) and the Iraqi artist and intellectual.
Shakir Hassan Al Said
Shakir Hassan Al Said ( ar, شاكر حسن ال سعيد) (1925–2004), an Iraqi painter, sculptor and writer, is considered one of Iraq's most innovative and influential artists. An artist, philosopher, art critic and art historian, he was act ...
.
; Freeform calligraphy
: Artworks that balance classical styles with calligraffiti.
; Abstract calligraphy
: Art that deconstructs letters and includes them as a graphic element in an abstract artwork. In this style of art, letters may be legible, illegible or may use pseudo-script. Rafa al-Naisiri (b. 1940) and
Mahmoud Hammad (1923-1988) are notable examples of this style of artist.
; Calligraphy Combinations
: Artworks that use any combination of calligraphy styles, often employing marginal calligraphy or unconscious calligraphy. Artist,
Dia Azzawi
Dia Al-Azzawi (Arabic: ضياء العزاوي) is an Iraqi painter and sculptor, now living and working in London, and one of the pioneers of modern Arab art. He is noted for incorporating Arabic script into his paintings. Active in the arts comm ...
is a representative of this style.
Examples
File:Ceiling of Frere Hall.jpg, Roof of Frere Hall, Karachi, Pakistan, c. 1986. Pakmural by artist, Sadequain Naqqash, integrates calligraphy into a contemporary artwork
File:Ceiling of Frere Hall (1).jpg, Roof of Frere Hall, Karachi, mural, c. 1986 by Sadequain Naqqash
File:Ceiling of Frere Hall (3).jpg, Detail from roof of Frere Hall by Sadequain Naqqash, illustrating Arabic letters
File:Art de rue Djerba quartier Er Ryadh Calligraphie orange.JPG, Art installation, Rue Djerba, Er Ryadh quarter, Tunisia, by el Seed, the calligraffiti artist
File:National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka - Islamic calligraphy "Ecstasy" (Al-Wajd) - Paris in France - Made by Hassan Massoudy in 2001.jpg, ''Al Wajd'' 'Ectasy'' painting by Hassan Massoudy, 2001. Now in the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka
Notable exponents
Iraqi painter,
Madiha Omar, is recognised as a pioneer of the hurufiyya art movement, having exhibited a number of hurufist-inspired works in Georgetown in Washington as early as 1949. and publishing ''Arabic Calligraphy: An Inspiring Element in Abstract Art'' in 1950.
[; Treichl, C., ''Art and Language: Explorations in (Post) Modern Thought and Visual Culture,'' Kassel University Press, 2017 p. 117>] Jamil Hamoudi was also a pioneer, active from the 1950s. Both Omar and Hamoudi joined the
One Dimension Group when it was founded by
Shakir Hassan Al Said
Shakir Hassan Al Said ( ar, شاكر حسن ال سعيد) (1925–2004), an Iraqi painter, sculptor and writer, is considered one of Iraq's most innovative and influential artists. An artist, philosopher, art critic and art historian, he was act ...
in 1971 since its principles were based on the importance of the Arabic letter. The artist and art historian,
Princess Wijdan Ali, who developed the traditions of Arabic calligraphy in a modern, abstract format and is considered a pioneer of the movement in Jordan, has been able to bring hurufiyya to the attention of a broader audience through her writing and her work as a curator and patron of the arts.
[; Ramadan, K.D., ''Peripheral Insider: Perspectives on Contemporary Internationalism in Visual Culture,'' Museum Tusculanum Press, 2007, p. 49; Mavrakis, N., "The Hurufiyah Art Movement in Middle Eastern Art," ''McGill Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Blog,']
Online:
/ref>
Notable exponents of hurufiyya art include:
Algeria
* Rachid Koraichi (b. 1947)
* Omar Racim (1894-1959)
Egypt
* Omar El-Nagdi (b. 1931)
* Ghada Amer
Ghada Amer ( ar, غادة عامر, May 22 1963 in Cairo, Egypt) is a contemporary artist, much of her work deals with issues of gender and sexuality. Her most notable body of work involves highly layered embroidered paintings of women's bodies r ...
(b. 1963) active in Egypt and France
Iraq
* Firyal Al-Adhamy (also known as Ferial al-Althami) (b. 1950)
* Shakkir Hassan Al Sa'id (1925-2004)
* Mohammed Ghani Hikmat (1929-2011)
* Madiha Omar (1908 – 2005)
* Jamil Hamoudi (1924-2003)
* Hassan Massoudy (b. 1944)
* Dia Azzawi
Dia Al-Azzawi (Arabic: ضياء العزاوي) is an Iraqi painter and sculptor, now living and working in London, and one of the pioneers of modern Arab art. He is noted for incorporating Arabic script into his paintings. Active in the arts comm ...
(b. 1939) active in Iraq and London
* Saadi Al Kaabi (b 1937)
* Ismael Al Khaid (b. abt 1900)
* Rafa al-Nasiri (b. 1940)
Iran
* Nasser Assar (1928-2011) :fr:Nasser Assar
* Golnaz Fathi (b. 1972)
* Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1931)
* Mehrdad Shoghi (b. 1972)
* Charles Hossein Zenderoudi (b. 1937)
Jordan
* Wijdan Ali
Princess Wijdan Ali ( ar, وجدان علي) (born 29 August 1939 in Baghdad, Iraq) is a Jordanian artist, art historian, educator and diplomat. She is the ex-wife of Prince 'Ali bin Naif of Jordan. She is best known for her efforts to revive the ...
(b. 1939) painter, art historian, curator and patron of the arts
* Mahmoud Taha (b. 1942) ceramicist
Lebanon
* Etel Adnan
Etel Adnan ( ar, إيتيل عدنان; 24 February 1925 – 14 November 2021) was a Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and visual artist. In 2003, Adnan was named "arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American author writing today" ...
(b. 1925) poet and visual artist
* Saloua Raouda Choucair
Saloua Raouda Choucair ( ar, سلوى روضة شقير; June 24, 1916 – January 26, 2017) was a Lebanese painter and sculptor.
Life and career
Born in 1916 in Ain el Mreisa, Beirut, Lebanon, Choucair came from a family of doctors, lawyers, ...
(1916-2017)
* Samir Sayegh (b. 1945)
Morocco
* Lalla Essaydi (b. 1956)
Pakistan
* Sadequain Naqqash (1930-1987)
Palestine
* Kamal Boullata (1942-2019) active in Palestine
Saudi Arabia
* Ahmed Mater (b. 1979)
* Nasser Al Salem (b. 1984)
* Faisal Samra (b. 1955) multi-media visual and performing artist, active in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
Sudan
* Ibrahim el-Salahi (b. 1930)
* Osman Waqialla (1924-2007)
Syria
* Mahmoud Hammad (b. 1923)
* Khaled Al-Saai (b. 1970) active in Syria and UAE
Tunisia
* Nja Mahdaoui (b. 1937)
* eL Seed (b. 1981) street artist/ calligraffiti artist
Qatar
* Yousef Ahmad
Yousef Ahmad ( ar, يوسف أحمد; born 1955 in Doha, Qatar) is a Qatari artist, art adviser, collector, writer and educator in the field of art. He is a leading figure of Qatar's cultural development and regularly represent his country at inter ...
(b. 1955) active in Doha, Qatar
* Ali Hassan Jaber (b.?) Qatar
United Arab Emirates
* Abdul Qadir al-Raes (b. 1951) active in Dubai
* Mohammed Mandi (b. abt 1950)
* Farah Behbehani (b.? ) Kuwait
Exhibitions
Individual hurufiyya artists began to stage exhibitions from the 1960s. In addition to solo exhibitions, several group exhibitions showcasing the variations in hurufiyya art, both geographically and temporally, have also been mounted by prestigious art museums.
* ''Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East,'' 18 May- 26 September 2006, curated by the British Museum, London; travelling exhibition also at the Dubai Financial Centre, 7 February – 30 April 2008)
* ''Hurufiyya: Art & Identity,'' exhibition featuring selected artworks 1960s - early 2000s, curated by Barjeel Foundation, 30 November 2016 - 25 January 2017, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt[Elsirgany, S., "Alexandria exhibition celebrates 'Hurufiyya' art movement," ''Ahram,'' 18 December 2016, Online:http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/5/25/253331/Arts--Culture/Visual-Art/Alexandria-exhibition-celebrates-Hurufiyya-art-mov.aspx and Barjeel Foundation, Online: http://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/exhibitions/hurufiyya/]
See also
* Art movement
An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defi ...
* Baghdad School - influential 13th-century school of calligraphy and illustration
* Calligraffiti
Calligraffiti is an art form that combines calligraphy, typography, and graffiti. It can be classified as either abstract expressionism or abstract vandalism. It is defined as a visual art that integrates letters into compositions that attempt to ...
* Hurufism
Hurufism ( ar, حُرُوفِيَّة ''ḥurūfiyyah'', Persian: حُروفیان ''hōrufiyān'') was a Sufi movement based on the mysticism of letters (''ḥurūf''), which originated in Astrabad and spread to areas of western Iran (Persia ...
* Iraqi art
Iraqi art is one of the richest art heritages in world and refers to all works of visual art originating from the geographical region of what is present day Iraq since ancient Mesopotamian periods. For centuries, the capital, Baghdad was the Med ...
* Islamic art
Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide ra ...
* Islamic calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy, in the languages which use Arabic alphabet or the alphabets derived from it. It includes Arabic, Persian, Ottoman, and Urdu calligraphy.Chapman, Caroline (2012). ...
* Jordanian art
Jordanian art has a very ancient history. Some of the earliest figurines, found at Aïn Ghazal, near Amman, have been dated to the Neolithic period. A distinct Jordanian aesthetic in art and architecture emerged as part of a broader Islamic art ...
* List of art movements
:''See Art periods for a chronological list.
This is a list of art movements in alphabetical order. These terms, helpful for curricula or anthologies, evolved over time to group artists who are often loosely related. Some of these movements wer ...
* Modern art
References
External links
Google Arts and Culture "Hurufiyya"
Further reading
* Sharbal Dāghir, ''Arabic Hurufiya: Art and Identity,'' (trans. Samir Mahmoud), Skira, 2016, {{ISBN, 8-8572-3151-8
Arabic art
Art movements
Islamic art
Sufi art