Mohamed Zakariya and the Practice of Calligraphy

Categorized as Topics

Mohamed Zakariya and the Practice of Calligraphy

Nancy Micklewright

Synopsis:

This presentation examines the creation of traditional Arabic calligraphy today through the life of Mohamed Zakariya, the foremost practitioner of this art in the United States. Beginning with Zakariya’s journey from Southern California to Virginia, via Morocco and Istanbul, we consider the core elements of Arabic calligraphy and some of Zakariya’s stunning work. We then turn to the practice of calligraphy today: tools, learning, global communities, and the real-world aspects of making a living at this centuries-old art form.

Worksheet:

A worksheet for this video is available here.

Also visit the Khamseen Worksheets page here.

References:

Blair, Sheila S. Islamic Calligraphy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006.

McWilliams, Mary and David Roxburgh. Traces of the Calligrapher. Islamic Calligraphy in Practice, c. 1600-1900. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

Micklewright, Nancy, ed. Mohamed Zakariya, a 21st-Century Calligrapher. Louisville: Fons Vitae Publishing, 2022.

Micklewright, Nancy. “Mohamed Zakariya, A Life in Pictures.” In Mohamed Zakariya, a 21st-Century Calligrapher, ed. Nancy Micklewright (Louisville: Fons Vitae Publishing, 2022), 43–64.

Schimmel, Annemarie. Calligraphy and Islamic Culture. London: I.B. Tauris, 1990.Welch, Anthony. Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World. New York City: The Asia Society, 1979.

Online Resources:

V. Minorsky, trans. Calligraphers and Painters: A Treatise by Qādī Ahmad, Son of Mir-Munshī, circa A.H. 1015/A.D. 1606. Freer Gallery of Art Occasional Papers, Vol. 2, no. 2, 1959. 2016 Interactive online edition produced and developed by Sana Mirza, Ari Post, Simon Rettig, Zeynep Simavi.

Beauty in Solitude, online exhibition of calligraphy produced during the 2020 pandemic

The Art and Practice of Calligraphy in Arabic Script | The Walters Art Museum

Citation:

Nancy Micklewright, “Mohamed Zakariya and the Practice of Calligraphy,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 16 November 2023.

Nancy Micklewright writes primarily about the history of photography and fashion history in the Ottoman Empire with a focus on gender. Her edited volume, Mohamed Zakariya, a 21st century Master Calligrapher, was published in 2022 by Fons Vitae. Most recently she has received research fellowships from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art. Through 2019, she was Head of Public and Scholarly Engagement at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, where among other duties she served as the editor-in-chief of the journal Ars Orientalis. She has published widely on aspects of photographic practice in the Ottoman Empire, travel albums, local engagement with photography, and related issues. Her new book, Fashion in a Global City: Dress and Photography in late Ottoman Istanbul, will appear in 2025.