PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: calligraphy
Chinese artist
Mi Fu was a scholar, poet, calligrapher, and painter who was a dominant figure in Chinese art. Of his extensive writings—poetry, essays on the history of aesthetics, and criticism of painting—a considerable...
Italian scholar
Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini was an Italian humanist and calligrapher, foremost among scholars of the early Renaissance as a rediscoverer of lost, forgotten, or neglected Classical Latin manuscripts...
Chinese artist
Wu Changshuo was a Chinese seal carver, painter, and calligrapher who was prominent in the early 20th century. Wu was born into a scholarly family and began writing poems and carving seals by age 10. As...
Chinese artist
Dong Qichang was a Chinese painter, calligrapher, and theoretician who was one of the finest artists of the late Ming period. The most distinguished connoisseur of his day, Dong Qichang set forward ideas...
emperor of Song dynasty
Huizong was the temple name (miaohao) of the eighth and penultimate emperor (reigned 1100–1125/26) of the Bei (Northern) Song dynasty (960–1127). He is best remembered both as a patron of the arts and...
British calligrapher
Edward Johnston was a British teacher of calligraphy who had a widespread influence on 20th-century typography and calligraphy, particularly in England and Germany. He has been credited with starting the...
German artist
Rudolf Koch was a German calligrapher, type designer, and teacher, a major influence on decorative arts in early 20th-century Germany. Koch’s formal education ended when he finished high school in Nürnberg,...
Japanese painter
Ike Taiga was a painter of the mid-Edo (Tokugawa) period (1603–1867) who, together with Yosa Buson, established the bunjin-ga, or literati, style of painting, which survives to this day in Japan. (The...
Chinese painter
Zhao Mengfu was a Chinese painter and calligrapher who, though occasionally condemned for having served in the foreign Mongol court (Yuan dynasty, 1206–1368), has been honoured as an early master within...
Chinese poet and calligrapher
Huang Tingjian was a Chinese poet and calligrapher esteemed as the founder of the Jiangxi school of poetry. Born into a family of poets, Huang Tingjian was educated in the Confucian classics, history,...
American artist
W.A. Dwiggins was an American typographer, book designer, puppeteer, illustrator, and calligrapher, who designed four of the most widely used Linotype faces in the United States and Great Britain: Caledonia,...
Chinese artist
Wen Zhengming was a Chinese painter, calligrapher, and scholarly figure who was a student of Shen Zhou; these two artists are considered the leading figures of the Wu school of scholar-artists in China....
Scottish calligrapher
Esther Inglis was a Scottish calligrapher born in London to French parents, who produced about 55 miniature manuscript books between 1586 and 1624. Her work was much admired and collected in her lifetime....
Chinese painter
Qi Baishi was, along with Zhang Daqian, one of the last of the great traditional Chinese painters. Qi was of humble origins, and it was largely through his own efforts that he became adept at the arts...
Arab calligrapher
Ibn al-Bawwāb was an Arabic calligrapher of the ʿAbbāsid Age (750–1258) who reputedly invented the cursive rayḥānī and muḥaqqaq scripts. He refined several of the calligraphic styles invented a century...
Chinese calligrapher
Wang Xizhi was the most celebrated of Chinese calligraphers. It is said that even in his lifetime a few of Wang’s characters or his signature were priceless. Down through the ages, aspiring students of...
Japanese artist
Shōkadō Shōjō was a Japanese calligrapher and painter, one of the “three brushes” of the Kan-ei era. He was a priest and respected theologian of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, who declined high office and...
Islamic calligrapher
Ibn Muqlah was one of the foremost calligraphers of the ʿAbbāsid Age (750–1258), reputed inventor of the first cursive style of Arabic lettering, the naskhī script, which replaced the angular Kūfic as...
Korean calligrapher
Kim Chŏng-hui was the best-known Korean calligrapher of the 19th century. Kim was born into a family of artists and government officials. As a young man he accompanied his father on a trip to Peking, where...
English poet and writing master
John Davies was an English poet and writing master whose chief work was Microcosmos (1603), a didactic religious treatise. Davies settled in Oxford and became known as the best penman of his day. As well...
Islamic calligrapher
Mīr ʿAlī of Tabriz was an Islamic calligrapher of the Timurid Age (c. 1370–c. 1500) and a contemporary of Timur (Tamerlane); he was the inventor of the cursive nastaʿlīq script, traditionally regarded...
Korean painter
An Chung-sik was the last gentleman painter of the great Korean Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910). As a promising young painter, An Chung-sik was sent to China for training by the Korean court. Upon his return...
Japanese calligrapher
Ono Tōfū was a Japanese calligrapher known as one of the Sanseki (“Three Brush Traces”), in effect the first calligraphers of the age. The others were Fujiwara Yukinari and Fujiwara Sukemasa, and the three...
English calligrapher
Peter Bales was an English calligrapher who devised one of the earliest forms of shorthand, published in his book Arte of Brachygraphie (1590). A highly skilled copyist, Bales gained fame for his microscopic...
Japanese calligrapher
Fujiwara Yukinari was a Japanese calligrapher, known as one of the Sanseki (“Three Brush Traces”), in effect the finest calligraphers of the age. The others were Ono Tōfū and Fujiwara Sukemasa, and the...
Dutch painter
Ludolf Backhuysen was a Dutch painter, celebrated for his sea pieces. Backhuysen studied under the Dutch painters Allart van Everdingen and Hendrik Dubbels. His numerous compositions are nearly all variations...
Korean painter and calligrapher
Hŏ Ryŏn was a well-known Korean painter and calligrapher. Immensely popular in his time, Hŏ resisted the nationalizing tendency in Korean art, returning instead to the traditional Chinese academic style....