Hassan Massoudy’s Calligraphy at COSMOSWORDS

The gallery COSMOSWORDS changed its owner and inaugurated its first show with forty works by Iraqi master calligrapher Hassan Massoudy. The exhibition opened on October 1 and will run until October 31, 2014.

Photo above: Dyptich, 2009, Pigments and acrylic on canvas, 72x92 cm x 2 / Courtesy of COSMOSWORDS and the Artist

COSMOSWORDS are specializing in contemporary calligraphy. Massoudy, a living legend, has influenced a young generation working on paper or with light calligraphy and has set a new direction in exploring visual language of calligraphy. While researching the spontaneity of the strokes, Massoudy creates interesting forms and shapes of Arabic letters.

Hassan Massoudy was born in 1944 in Najef, a city in the southern Iraq. In 1961 he moved to Bagdad to learn Islamic calligraphy. He continued his art education at the Fine Arts School in Paris. Although he studied figurative painting, his love toward calligraphy eventually led him to focus and explore new way of calligraphic expression and completely abandon figurative painting.

Hassan Massoudy's work has been acquired by many museums, such as British Museum (London, UK), Museum Voor Volkenkunde (Rotterdam, Netherlands), Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts (Amman, Jordan), Museum of Sharjah (UAE), National Museum of Ethnology (Osaka, Japan), Asian Civilisations Museum (Singapour), MusÃ©e du Quai Branly (Paris, France), Cabinet des Estampes, BibliothÃ¨que Nationale de France, (Paris, France), and many more.

Highlights from the Exhibition

"When there is a will, there is always a way" (Chinese saying), 2012, water-based paint and pigments on paper, 75x55 cm / Courtesy of COSMOSWORDS and the Artist

"Oh time, suspend your flight" (Lamartine), 2008, water-based paint and pigments on paper, 95x55 cm / Courtesy of COSMOSWORDS and the Artist

"The development is not to have more, but be more"(Ganghi), 2000, water-based paint and pigments on paper, 75x55 cm / Courtesy of COSMOSWORDS and the Artist