Print, Creative Power

The art of (hand)writing: When emotion surfaces in ink

21 Aug 2020 — Print, News, Creative Power
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In a recent article we published, we discussed the multi-sensory aspect of reading off paper and how the sensory sensation of touching paper can improve our ability to remember a message. Recent neuroscience research has shown that communications on paper are more likely to involve an emotional response than digital communication. They are also more successful in enhancing the appeal and value of quality from the consumer's perspective.

In a recent article we published, we discussed the multi-sensory aspect of reading off paper and how the sensory sensation of touching paper can improve our ability to remember a message. Recent neuroscience research has shown that communications on paper are more likely to involve an emotional response than digital communication. They are also more successful in enhancing the appeal and value of quality from the consumer's perspective.

It seems that luxury brands intuitively understood this result a long time ago, before research was done, before we learned that on average 93% of mailings are opened compared to around 20% for their digital counterpart, when they continued to send invitations and personalised communications to selected customers.

Recent examples show that innovative companies and start-ups have also rediscovered the power of personalised communications on paper.

When communication becomes personal

In an era of digital overload and uniformity of style, calligraphy could be the pinnacle of personalisation and targeted communication. Edouard Dupont, a professional calligrapher based in Paris, explains how "brands sometimes need to make a difference in the digital world by using personalised paper communication".

 

We asked Edouard Dupont to tell us more about his creative process.

"In calligraphy, each project is unique and tailor-made. While words are meant to convey a message, calligraphy adds a layer of emotion, and is meant to reinforce that message".

The choice of paper is probably one of the main factors in the design of a project, as he explains later: "When it comes to designing a limited-edition printed communication support, I choose a paper according to different criteria.

The material, texture and colour reflect a universe, in conjunction with the finishing and printing techniques that the calligraphy then enhances further with its style and spirit.

 

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© Edouard Dupont, Pleins et déliés

When it comes to working on a visual identity, I like to mix the techniques of the brush and the pen. However, these two techniques require media with opposite technical characteristics. Japanese papers such as washi are very attractive for brush washing, but they are very fibrous and the ink fuses when using a Latin calligraphy nib, which prefers more closed papers such as vellum.

In order to be able to mix the wash and the nib, I use papers that contain enough glue. Curious Matter is a paper that contains potato starch, which offers very interesting effects."

 

Talking about current styles of calligraphy, Edouard Dupont explains how it is a mixture of Western and Eastern versions of the art of writing. The Western tradition of writing is static and result-oriented, a work of ornate elegance. In contrast, the Eastern tradition of calligraphy is centred on gesture, movement, is more personified, and aims to breathe life into the work.

A millenary tradition still inspiring today’s artists

As Adrien Bossard, administrator of the Museum of Asian Art of Nice, explains, "Chinese calligraphy is composed of movements very much embedded with Taoism. It is probably the most important art in China. By holding his brush, a scholar mobilises a form of creative breath to fill the void, he mobilises his energies and tools to recreate a world".

To fully understand the difference with the Western approach to calligraphy, it is important to understand that Chinese calligraphy is full of mystery and wisdom. It was born of an oracle bone made of turtle shells that were used in pyromantic divination (forms appearing in fire). The tortoise shells, or animals’ scapula bones, were thrown into the fire, and the cracks were deciphered to divinise the future.

These lines slowly formed into a complete system that has lasted for millennia, and into a gesture of writing that is still imbued with meaning.

 

In modern Chinese society, calligraphy still occupies an important place, with calligraphy being part of the curriculum for students at a very early stage. Knowing how to use a brush is still considered an art form, and some of the calligrapher's gestures are very close to a practice such as Tai Chi. A strong expression of this attention to gesture can be found in the modern practice of water painting.

In Chinese parks, people write on stone with water that then evaporates, leaving only the movement of writing. Artistic calligraphy becomes a performance art.

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Because Chinese calligraphy is above all a gesture, because it is rich in millennia of history and is embedded with a philosophical and artistic relationship with concepts such as emptiness, life and nature, artists like Fabienne Verdier have been able to disconnect this gesture from Chinese culture and apply it to other subjects.

A seed of abstract art

For nearly 10 years, Fabienne Verdier studied painting, aesthetics and philosophy at the Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts with some of the last great masters of Chinese painting. She became the first non-Chinese person to receive a higher degree from the university and began her career with a strong link to Chinese calligraphy. But she also explored American expressionists, Flemish Primitives and music theory at the Juilliard Academy of Music.

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Fabienne Verdier, L'Un, 2007, Zurich

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Fabienne Verdier at work
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Fabienne Verdier, Roland Garros Poster, 2018

Her work is based on movement, and the Chinese concept of emptiness is central to her work. As she herself explains, "My primary concern when I begin a work is run on the work by Zhang Xu, 8th Century, Wild Cursive style evocation of emptiness. In the beginning, it was emptiness... I take an absolute time to invent it, because it seems essential to me ".


Although it has inspired many modern artists, this ability of Chinese calligraphy to become abstract art is not completely new. Adrien Bossard explains how, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), calligraphers invented the "wild" or "crazy" cursive style, "where the lines blend into each other, where you feel the writing more than you see it.

The writing becomes an artistic motif that follows the gesture. To be able to reach this level, you have to master all the other styles. Erase all learning of calligraphy styles".

An attempt at erasing that Edouard Dupont tries to apply in his Parisian workshop. When he talks about his work, he talks about flow and meditation, about this state of concentration which allows him to find the right gesture.

A right gesture that will leave a memorable trace on paper. Because paper appeals to all our senses, because it is vibrant with materiality, it can retain a part of this gesture, this spark of life and transmit it.

This is perhaps one of the reasons why communication through paper is more effective, because it appeals to our collective memory, made up of generations of human beings storing life with ink on paper.