Jewish art is a rich and long tradition with influences from all over the world. I find inspiration in the medieval European Jewish illuminated manuscripts like this one—from the gorgeous penmanship to the intricate micrography.
Micrography
Micrography, or microcalligraphy, is a style of calligraphy developed by Jewish calligraphers in medieval Europe that uses tiny (micro) writing (graph) to convey shapes, patterns, and imagery.
It originally developed as a way around the minhag (custom) against “graven images”, or images of living things such as animals or people that might accidentally veer into idolatry. But it soon became an art in its own right as calligraphers of the era continued to innovate and push the boundaries of what they could do with tiny text.
Although the tradition started in religious texts in Hebrew, over time, writers began to use secular texts, and even other languages, such as Arabic. Many of my texts, especially the Hebrew, come from prayers, Kabbalah, and liturgy, but the Celtic knot frame and Lonely Mountain below use the first chapter of J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit.
