Which is to say, it’s already near the top of everything I’ve read in the last six months. I also read Ella Maillart’s The Cruel Way and Vita Sackville-West’s Twelve Days in Persia as a result, and Annamarie makes them both read like spoilt upper-class nobs whose only talent is the distinct whiff of colonial racism – I kept thinking if I was traveling with them I’d be obliged to leave them stranded and be off with their car and money because that’s all they’re good for. Perhaps being hooked on heroin gave Annamarie an empathy absent in these others; it did wonders for William Burroughs also. At very least, her translation into english adds a great deal to 20th century Central Asia writing.

25 April, 2012
20:00
Dialogue Books
Schönleinstraße 31
Berlin, Germany

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Journalist, novelist, antifascist, archaeologist, world traveler, the Swiss writer Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908-1942) became a European cult figure following her rediscovery in the 1990s. At long last, her works are also appearing in English via Seagull Books.

To celebrate, join Dialogue Books as we host Alexis Schwarzenbach, the writer’s grandnephew and the leading expert on her life and work. He and Annemarie Schwarzenbach’s translators Lucy Renner Jones and Isabel Fargo Cole will also read from a selection of her works suggesting the breadth of her concerns and creativity. Lyric Novella is the tale of a young “man’s” love for a nightclub singer in decadent Weimar-era Berlin, while Death in Persia is a more open exploration of lesbian love and existential anguish against the background of 1930’s Teheran, and All the Roads Are Open is an account of Schwarzenbach’s epic journey in a Ford from Switzerland to Afghanistan on the eve of World War II.

ABOUT

Annemarie Schwarzenbach, born in 1908 to one of Switzerland’s most prominent families, published her first novel at the age of 23. Her friends Klaus and Erika Mann introduced her to artistic circles, and she scandalized her conservative family by living an openly lesbian lifestyle and supporting leftwing political causes. From 1933 to 1941 she took numerous trips in Europe, the USSR, the United States, the Near East and Africa as a photojournalist covering social and political issues, while also publishing novels and short fiction. After the outbreak of World War II she sought ways to take political action, helping the Manns’ anti-Fascist efforts, but increasingly succumbed to depression and drug addiction.

Annemarie Schwarzenbach died in 1942 in Switzerland following a bicycle accident.

Annamarie Schwarzenbach

Lately my interest has moved slightly from Afghanistan, though naturally still swirling around Central Asia (in addition to all things China and Canton), and I’ve had a curiosity to wonder what I’m missing about Iran. I have read through the region many times, as I’ve traversed the Silk Route, or in various other works of the region, yet never given it the specific attention I’ve devoted to, say, Afghanistan. Though I’m loathe to take on another country and all its history in the same way as I have that land-locked place, Iran is somewhere I’d like to travel to.

So, Vita then. I was never especially fond of her writing, and have her engraved in my memory as one of those early-20th century feminist writers I was supposed to love, yet found a bit pathetic and earnest. It has been a long time though since I was obliged to read those writers, so perhaps I’ll find something I can’t resist and go on a Vita trip.

Vita Sackville-West – Twelve Days in Persia

This one, Ella K. Maillart’s The Cruel Way, came to me from a conversation with Lucy who has been translating some of Annamarie Schwarzenbach, whom I met on the Pförtner bus with Isabel, translator of All the Roads are Open, currently near the top of my list for best non-fiction of the year. They both fielded me that afternoon with the names of several authors who reside at the intersection of a number of sets I have been distracted by for some time: women authors, writing on Afghanistan and Central Asia, in the (broad) subjects of anthropology and history.

I promptly forgot the names, though knew I’d get around to remembering soon enough, and thankfully Lucy scribbled them down for me. To Saint George’s!

When Annamarie travelled to Afghanistan overland by car in the second half of 1939, she did so with the companionship of another writer, Ella Maillart. For both of them, the journey resulted in a book, though until this year, Annamarie hadn’t been translated to english. Ella, on the other hand, was in english since 1947, with one peculiarity: there is no mention of Annamarie Schwarzenbach.

Ella travels with Christina. The one photo of her is from a distance, head down over the campsite, so as to be unrecognizable. Despite this (at the insistence of Annamarie’s mother), there is little or no disguising of whom she travelled with, though this does make for a somewhat sombre reading, knowing full well who Christina is, and that her identity is erased by her own mother in a perverse desire for familial respectability.

It is a rare pleasure to read two highly accomplished writers documenting the same journey; to see the same experiences through the eyes of each. Annamarie writes with such a sparse, poetic, lyrical style as to be a novelist, and very few fiction authors I have read can seduce in telling a story more than she. Ella is somewhat the opposite; a travel writer who is romantic almost becoming saccharine. Nonetheless not to say she is a poor writer, and being a couple of chapters in (arriving at Sophia), she recalls for me the best of the writers of who ventured into Central Asia in a manner unimaginable now.

Ella K. Maillart — The Cruel Way

reza negarestani – cyclonopedia

‘BURKABONDAGE’ VON HELENA WALDMANN

mit Vania Rovisco, Dasniya Sommer, Acci Baba und Mohammad Reza Mortazavi

Infos unter: www.burkabondage.de

Indientournee Dezember 2010
06.12. – Chennai
10.12. – Colombo
12.12. – Bangalore
16.12. – Mumbai
19.12. – Delhi

— Burka Bondage

juan cole – engaging the muslim world

christopher i. beckwith – empires of the silk road

iranophobia – haggai ram

nasrin alavi – we are iran

So what is it about Persian calligraphy and the writing system that makes it so desirable to work with?

The secret lies in the script and its mechanics. This script, that is written in Persian or Farsi, is known as the Arabic Script. It should be noted that the technical term Arabic Script refers to the script used in Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, other Arab countries, and more Indian regions where the Pashtu language is spoken. Moreover it used to be the official writing system in Turkey before its westernization by Ata Turk. Therefore its use for writing in over a dozen different dialects and languages has prompted a natural cultural adoption of specific styles and characteristics.

— pingmag – iranian typography now

calligraphy painting by Mohammed Ehsaei

Iranian Typography Now

calligraphy painting by Mohammed Ehsaei

The past few years have been quite exciting for Iranian graphic designers. As Iran’s design gains more international attention, the graphic designers face new challenges and rewards. In winter 2002 a poster exhibition by Iranian graphic designers called “Un Cri Persan” (A Persian Cry) was held in the city of Echirolles as a part of the Month of Graphic Design in France. The exhibition exposed a wealth of works that somehow escaped the spotlight for almost two decades. Ever since then Iranian graphic designers, many of them already internationally known, have been sharing more of their magic with the rest of the world.

Written by Behrouz

One of the qualities that makes current Iranian graphic design unique is its typography. The country has a rich history of visual arts and moreover the better part of this heritage consists of calligraphy. Throughout the times calligraphy has been inventing and reinventing itself and has influenced other forms of art. The incorporation of calligraphy into Islamic architecture is a fine example of this union. In recent times these treasures of beauty and harmony have inspired painters, sculptors, and in particular: graphic designers.

In comparison to Europe and North America calligraphy is a far more popular and practiced form of art in Iran and in most other countries around this area. You can spot at least one piece of calligraphy hung on the walls of most Iranian households.

Perhaps these are all reasons why it is not so easy to draw the line where calligraphy ends and typography starts. Some of the masterpieces of Iranian design are often the results of a collaboration between a designer and a calligrapher. One of the classic examples of such collaborations is the logotype of the Reza Abbasi Museum. The late Morteza Momayez (1936-2005) used the brilliant calligraphy of Iranian master calligrapher Mohamad Ehsaei to create this logotype in 1976.

logotype of Reza Abbasi Museum on the wall of the museum in Tehran

Mohammad Ehsaei has created numerous logos using various traditional aesthetics. His “Calligraphy Paintings” are highly praised for their complex compositions. In many of his works Ehsaei has extracted the essence of letters and traditional compositions and used them to create abstract works that are unmistakably Iranian in tone and character.

Mohammad Ehsaei: logotype for Abouzar Publication

logotype, Academy of Art, 2000

Mohammad Ehsaei: poster, Iranian exhibition in Bologna, 1977

calligraphy painting based on a Molavai poem

religious poster, 1999

poster, Iranian Artists in Bologna, 1977

So what is it about Persian calligraphy and the writing system that makes it so desirable to work with?

The secret lies in the script and its mechanics. This script, that is written in Persian or Farsi, is known as the Arabic Script. It should be noted that the technical term Arabic Script refers to the script used in Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, other Arab countries, and more Indian regions where the Pashtu language is spoken. Moreover it used to be the official writing system in Turkey before its westernization by Ata Turk. Therefore its use for writing in over a dozen different dialects and languages has prompted a natural cultural adoption of specific styles and characteristics.

Persian calligraphy: some examples

style example from the Middle East

Middle East calligraphy: various styles

more from the Middle East

example for Persian calligraphy

Middle East style

another example of Arabic origin

The national language of Iran is called Farsi or Parsi. Farsi and Arabic use a similar alphabet but Farsi has four extra letters. In Arabic there is no Pe, Che, Zhe or Ge sound. That’s why in UAE you get Bebsi instead of Pepsi. Although both languages have borrowed from each other through history, Farsi’s vocabulary and grammar are very different from those in Arabic.

Farsi is written from right to left and it consists of 32 letters. Almost every word can be written without lifting your writing hand from the paper, meaning that usually all characters are connected. This makes Farsi a very fluid and flexible script. To be able to understand the complexity of the script it’s better to have a rough idea of the anatomy of Farsi letters. To make that easier, let’s forget about calligraphy for a moment and look at fonts designed for everyday purposes:

anatomy of Farsi Letters

Each letter can have a maximum of four different forms:

Free form: When it appears without being connected to another character.

Initial form: When the character is the first character in a word, therefore only connected to the character after itself.

Medial form: When the character is connected to the characters after and before itself.

Final form: When the character is connected only to the character before itself.

from right to left: Free, Initial, Medial and Final forms

As a characteristic of the particular letter, different forms of a letter have in fact one single shape with different extensions reaching out of that shape. These extensions end either on, below, or above the baseline. The extension always lands on the baseline if it is going to join two characters. In other words – every two characters always meet on the baseline.

So what happens as you type?

Farsi fonts have to be “smart fonts”. The font has to decide which form a letter should appear in, depending on its position in the word. Open Type has solved the problems by providing all the different forms of the letters and all the exceptions and special connections. Here is an example of letters joining as a writer types a four-letter word.

Notice how the tail of each letter changes as the next letter is typed in

Now let’s continue with calligraphy. Here is where the fun begins:

Nastaligh or Nastaliq is a cursive style developed in the late 14th century in Iran. It allows very dense compositions and is very fluid and expressive. Nastaligh is not directly bound to a baseline. The letters float and continue all the way below the baseline. This results in a well balanced line usually with an upward momentum at the end of the line. Understanding and mastering this balance takes years of rigorous practice under a master. A piece of calligraphy can be most beautiful when the artist bends the rules to create a unique yet aesthetically pleasing composition.

poem written in Nastaligh, calligraphy by Habiballah Fazaeli

Shekaste Nastaligh (meaning “broken” Nastaligh) is a style born out of Nastaligh. It is more angular and suitable for fast writing. And its long oblique strokes imply an incredible sense of motion and rhythm.

Shekaste Nastaligh by Habiballah Fazaeli

In the late 1800s two master calligraphers, Mirza Gholamreza and Mir Hossein, explored visual qualities of Nastaligh by creating pieces known as Siah Mashgh. Siah Mashgh was originally just a practice for the calligrapher to warm up his hand and to refine the shape of letters by repeating them over and over. These practices resulted in a page filled with words and letters, hence the name Siah Mashgh literally meaning “Black Practice”. When calligraphers realized how stunning some of these pieces were it was turned into a style of its own.In these pieces the sole intention of the artist is to create visually stunning works. Words and letters are repeated regardless of meaning, all for the sake of composition and style. In some ways, a Siah Mashgh explores the concepts of typography in a more complex manner.

Siah Mashgh by Mir Hossein, 18th cent.

Siah Mashgh by Mirza Reza Kalhor

Reza Abedini is one of the contemporary designers who has explored and expanded the possibilities of Farsi typography. In many of his works Abedini breaks up the baseline and manipulates individual words and letters to achieve his unique typographic style. Although Abedini uses modern typefaces, he tries “to revive the poetic qualities of Persian calligraphy in his posters”, as he puts it.

Persian Type and Typography, poster by Reza Abedini

Photo and Graphic – an exhibition by Mehran Mohajer and Reza Abedini, poster by Reza Abedini

exhibition poster by Reza Abedini

Since 2003 The 5th Color – a group currently made up of four well established Iranian designers: Majid Abbasi, Saed Meshki, Alireza Mostafa Zadeh, and Bijan Sayfouri – have organized three typography exhibitions in Iran.

Saed Meshki

book cover by Saed Meshki

CD cover for Ghazal by Saed Meshki

“40+40″ poster by Majid Abbasi for The 5th Color’s exhibition in Italy

Members of The 5th Color represent a generation of designers who have had a considerable role in shaping and fostering graphic design in Iran in the last two decades. Saed Meshki has brought typography into music stores and bookstores with his designs. In the past few years he has focused on book design and has started his own publishing house called Meshki Publications.

Another member of The 5th Color, Majid Abbasi, is the creative director of Did Graphics, a leading graphic design studio in Tehran. His works often feature very peaceful Farsi typography, giving the viewers a chance to appreciate the elegance of the letters.

“Man, Love and Life”: poster by Majid Abbsi in commemoration of pianist Emanuel Malek Aslanian

book cover by Majid Abbasi

more cover art work

Majid Abbasi

Majid Abbasi’s cover art

Typography exhibitions organized by The 5th Color have been an opportunity to see works of up and coming designers, design students and big names in Iranian design all in one place. The first exhibition was held to commemorate the 100th birthday of Sadegh Hedayat (1903-1951), an Iranian avant-garde writer. The event was titled “The Blind Owl” (Bouf-e Kour) after Hedayat’s best known book.

poster by Ali Khorshidpour, “The Blind Owl” typography exhibition

poster by Alireza Mostafazadeh , “The Blind Owl” typography exhibition

two-piece poster by Masoud Nejabati, “The Blind Owl” typography exhibition – left side

right side

poster by Mehdi Saeedi, “The Blind Owl” typography exhibition

The 2nd and 3rd exhibitions were held in 2004 and 2006 with the subject of Molavi – a mystic Sufi poet in the 13th century – and Iranian proverbs.

Farzad Fozouni and Iman Raad are two of the younger artists who stand out for their typographic approaches. Through their relatively short careers as designers they have created a wide range of charming and playful works.

poster for an animation festival by Iman Raad

more work by Iman Raad

poster for 21st Quran Festival for Students by Iman Raad

poster by Iman Raad for Molavi Typography Exhibition

more from Iman Raad

With all the energy and enthusiasm of designers the following years are definitely going to be full of surprises and astonishing works coming out of Iran. Thanks to all the artists who participated and sent us their works.