lettrism

In 1950 the Letterist, Maurice Lemaitre, had published Riff-raff, a tenpage "metagraphy," which included a sequence that zoomed from the solar system through a drawing of the earth to maps of Europe, France, and Paris, and finally one of Saint Germain de Pres.

Yet it represents a deep hesitation and uncertainty about the "meaning" of the letters which suggest an anarchist or letterist approach towards the tradition on the whole.

Elaborating his views, Al-Shaa'rani explains how he struggled against three currents in order to contrast his very own mode, namely, (1) the traditionalism of conservative calligraphers, (2) the dismissal of calligraphy as a modern art by western-oriented artists, and (3) the concoction of the so-called "Letterist Artists" who used alphabetical letters in their works, but were unable to free themselves from western notions of a painting.