The beginning of the autumn cultural season in Moscow was marked with the 6th International Calligraphy Exhibition. The event was held with a great success in the Sokolniki Park from September 1 to 10, in a pavilion specially built for this large-scale international project. Within the framework of the exhibition more than 350 works by 150 calligraphers from over 60 countries were presented.
The exhibition was organized by the Contemporary Calligraphy Museum and the Sokolniki Congress Exhibition Center with the support of the Sokolniki Park.
The exposition presented both traditional schools and unusual trends of calligraphy. This year, the Mongolian party joined the sections of European, Slavic, Arabic, Jewish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian calligraphy: members of the International Association of Mongolian Calligraphy took part in the festival for the first time.
Another peculiarity of the exposition was the rich variety of the presented techniques: besides usual paper, canvas and parchment, and unusual, but already traditional birch bark, you could see sculptural compositions, wood carving and poker painting poker painting, and even calligraphic tapestries.
Among the exhibits there were a lot of manuscript books: from one of the main pearls of the museum's collection, the handwritten Constitution of the Russian Federation, and designer artbooks to the Russian Alphabet in Marina Khankova's drawings and the stunning richly decorated manuscript of St. John’s Bible by Donald Jackson.
St. John's Bible is one of the unique exhibits of the event, which could be seen in Moscow only for 10 days in September.
The visitors the grand opening ceremony were greatly impressed by the performance of the famous Korean master, Kim Jong Chil. He wrote the hieroglyph "Light” with a huge brush, on a large piece of cloth spread on the floor. He demonstrated the power and emotions that a calligraphy artist invests in every symbol.
International embassies and cultural delegations paid tribute to this intercultural festival. Representatives of several foreign embassies, such as Japan, China, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Georgia, and Poland, joined the opening ceremony; representatives of the Mongolian calligraphers' association and cultural figures from some other countries took part in it as well. All of them emphasized the importance of such events as the International Calligraphy Exhibition, since they help maintain cultural dialogue as well as peace and friendship on the planet.
Over 10 days of the exhibition, several thousand people could join the art of beautiful writing. Every day modern calligraphy masters conducted master classes and lectures on various types of this art.
The highlight was the participation of the official calligrapher and illumination master of the Central Office of the High Court of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and an unrivaled master of heraldry and illuminating, Timothy Noad. Besides, on the opening day, the famous Chinese master Lo Lei narrated and illustrated the history of the Chinese handwriting. The participants of the master class learned the secrets of writing hieroglyphics.
Where: the Modern Calligraphy Museum at the address 7/6, 5th Luchevoi Prosek Street, Moscow.
See details on the website of the Modern Calligraphy Museum.
Author: Vera Ivanova