Karalama

Karalama (calligraphy exercise) is a general name given to exercises that were done to maintain the calligraphers’ dexterity. All calligraphers, including even the most accomplished, felt the need to do frequent exercises to maintain their dexterity and writing habits.

Karalamas often comprise randomly chosen sentences such as hadiths, arranged in a haphazard way, sometimes on top of each other, sometimes with more care. These are studies to determine the proportion and harmony of the script and to develop a new style and they distinguish the better hands from others. They also provide good sources to enable future calligraphers to understand the artist.

Sülüs, sülüs-nesih and talik scripts are generally preferred in these exercises that sometimes even bear signatures and dates. This Karalama by calligrapher Hasan Rıza Efendi, who was especially famous for his accomplishment in nesih script, also bears a signature and a date.

Born in the Üsküdar district in Istanbul, Hasan Rıza Efendi began his education in the art of calligraphy with lessons by Yahya Hilmi Efendi. He became the student of Mehmed Şefik Bey (1820-1880), who was the calligrapher teacher at Musika-ı Humayun, and worked from the writings of Kadıasker Mustafa İzzet Efendi (1801-1876). Hasan Rıza Efendi has learned talik script from Sami Efendi (1838-1912), who was the most important master of talik script. Hasan Rıza Efendi has also taught in the calligraphy school called Medresetü’l-Hattatın established in 1914. The famous calligrapher Halim Özyazıcı (1898-1964) was among his students.

This Karalama signed Hasan Rıza, was bought in November 2008, from the Emin Barın Calligraphy Collection and included in the Calligraphy Collection of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum.