Western Calligraphy - Contemporary Resurgence

Contemporary Resurgence

The rise of printing from movable type in the mid-15th century did not mean the end of calligraphy. Illuminated manuscripts declined, however, after printing became ubiquitous. Conventionally the histories of Copperplate hands have represented such writing to have been with a sharp pointed nib instead of the broad-edged one used in most calligraphic writing. This so called "Copperplate Myth" represents the name to come from the sharp lines of the writing style resembling the etches of engraved copper printing plates. It is unlikely that this picture represents the historical origins of the term accurately, but is rather more reflective of later 19th and 20th century antipecuniary comfort of the Arts and Crafts movement participants. It is most likely that what is today written with pointed steel nibs began stylistic life before the 1820s with a broad edged quill and a number of period pen hold, posture and arm position variations to facilitate the fine lines. Hence there was likely a gradual change in historic writing practices and a reorientation of the vocation and place of writing rather than the elimination of the art.

At the end of the 19th century, the aesthetics and philosophy of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement appealed to many calligraphers, including Englishmen Edward Johnston and Eric Gill. Johnston was introduced to 10th-century manuscripts, at the Fitzherbert Museum by Sir Sidney Cockerell and based his own calligraphy on them. Johnston and his students were to redefine, revive, and popularise English broad-pen calligraphy.

The legacy of the Arts and Crafts movement includes considerable myth. Published in 1906, Johnston’s best known work Writing, Illuminating & Lettering never used the terms “Foundational” or “Foundational Hand” for which he is most remembered. Johnston initially taught his students an uncial hand using a flat pen angle, but later taught his “foundational hand” using a slanted pen angle. He first referred to this hand as “Foundational Hand” in Plate 6 of his 1909 publication, Manuscript & Inscription Letters for Schools and Classes and for the Use of Craftsmen. The Johnston Typeface (commissioned in 1916) became the basis for the London Underground signage and continues today in the New Johnston typeface, revised in 1988.

At about the same time as Johnston, Austrian Rudolf Larisch was teaching lettering at the Vienna School of Art and published six lettering books that greatly influenced German-speaking calligraphers. Because German-speaking countries had not abandoned the Gothic hand in printing, Gothic also had a powerful effect on their styles. Rudolf Koch was a friend and younger contemporary of Larisch. Koch's books, type designs, and teaching made him one of the most influential calligraphers of the 20th century in northern Europe and later in the U.S. Larisch and Koch taught and inspired many European calligraphers, notably Friedrich Neugebauer, Karlgeorg Hoefer, and Hermann Zapf.

Graily Hewitt was most responsible for the revival of the art of gilding, both by contributing to Writing, Illuminating and Lettering (Chapter 9 Appendix) and through his own publications, most notably Lettering for Students & Craftsmen (1930). Hewitt is not without both critics and supporters in his rendering of Cennino Cennini's medieval gesso recipes. Donald Jackson, a British calligrapher, has sourced his gesso recipes from earlier centuries a number of which are not presently in English translation. Graily Hewitt created the patent announcing the award to Prince Philip of the title of Duke of Edinburgh on November 19, 1947, the day before his marriage to Queen Elizabeth.

Many typefaces are based on historical hands, such as Blackletter (including Fraktur), Lombardic, Uncial, Italic, and Roundhand.