Museums and Organizations
These organizations support and showcase the work of Arabic, Ottoman, & Persian calligraphy.
Museums & Image Collections
The Asia Society
Website: https://asiasociety.org/
Location: USA
The Asia Society’s Creative Voices of Muslim Asia Initiative has sponsored exhibits such as Traces of the Calligrapher and Writing the Word of God (2009).
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia
Website: https://www.iamm.org.my
Location: Malaysia
The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia houses more than ten thousand artifacts, as well as an exceptional library of Islamic art books.
The Khalili Collections
Website: https://www.khalilicollections.org
Location: USA
The largest private collection of Islamic art, with 28,000 items including 2,000 ceramics and 600 items of jewellery.
The Library of Congress
Website: https://www.loc.gov
Location: USA
There are approximately 355 Islamic calligraphic items in the Library’s collections; these are mostly works on paper or parchment.
National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian)
Website: https://asia.si.edu
Location: USA
The Freer and Sackler together hold one of the country’s finest collections of the arts of the Islamic world, with particular strengths in illustrated manuscripts and ceramics among the more than 2,200 objects.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Website: https://www.metmuseum.org
Location: USA
The Met’s collection of Islamic art ranges in date from the seventh to the twenty-first century. Its more than 15,000 objects reflect the great diversity and range of the cultural traditions of Islam.
Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo
Website: https://miaegypt.org/
Location: Egypt
The mission of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) is to display, preserve and interpret Islamic artifacts, including many with calligraphy.
Sakıp Sabancı Museum
Website: https://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/
Location: Turkey
Spanning a period from the 14th to 20th century, Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection contains many stellar examples of Ottoman calligraphy.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Website: https://www.vam.ac.uk
Location: United Kingdom
The V&A holds over 19,000 items from the Middle East and North Africa, ranging from the early Islamic period (the 7th century) to the early 20th century.
The Walters Art Museum
Website: https://thewalters.org
Location: USA
The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland has a large collection of digitized Islamic manuscripts and other objects.
Calligraphy & Arts Organizations
IRCICA
Website: https://www.ircica.org
Location: Turkey
IRCICA promotes the study of traditional Islamic calligraphy through publications and competitions. Based in Istanbul.
Scripts ‘n’ Scribes
Website: https://www.scriptsnscribes.com
Location: USA
Scripts ‘n’ Scribes is passionate about bringing together those who seek knowledge of Arabic Calligraphy and other traditional arts and the accomplished teachers and masters of those art.
Reed Society for the Sacred Arts
Website: https://www.reedsociety.co
Location: USA
Through the hosting of events, workshops, lectures, performances, and galleries, the Reed Society’s mission is to create a paradigm shift in how the public approaches art.
Ketebe.org
Website: https://www.ketebe.org/en
Location: Turkey
Ketebe.org is an Islamic Arts portal with a large database of artists in the Turkish, Arabic and English languages. Features calligraphers in the Ottoman tradition.
Iranian Calligraphers Association of North America (ICANA)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/ICANApage/
Location: Canada
Facebook group for Iranian Calligraphers, based in Toronto.