Currently on display at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution is a beautiful exhibition dedicated to Persian calligraphy. Entitled “Nasta‘liq: The Genius of Persian Calligraphy,” it focuses on nasta‛liq, a calligraphic script that developed in the fourteenth century in Iran and remains one of the most expressive forms of aesthetic refinement in Persian culture to this day. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Simon Rettig, Freer and Sackler Galleries Curatorial Fellow for the Arts of the Islamic World, and is on view through March 22, 2015.
On November 17, Dr. Rettig will present a lecture on the topic of “When the genius lies elsewhere: Mir ‘Ali Tabrizi and the “invention” of the nasta’liq script” at Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland. Mir ‘Ali Tabrizi – the alleged inventor of nasta‘liq, Sultan Ali Mashhadi, Mir Ali Haravi, and Mir Imad Hasani were four of the greatest master calligraphers.