Brief aan jonkheer Barthold Willem Floris van Riemsdijk Possibly 1916

August Allebé wrote this letter to jonkheer Barthold Willem Floris van Riemsdijk in 1916, probably with a dip pen and ink on paper. I love seeing how the letters rise and fall, and how the line varies with pressure. The whole thing has this kind of seesaw rhythm, it’s full of small, almost imperceptible shifts. I imagine Allebé hunched over his desk, maybe in a drafty room, carefully forming each word. What was going through his mind as he wrote? Was he thinking about the recipient, or about the act of writing itself? The letter is full of looping gestures and generous curves, like a dance across the page, or a landscape. You can sense Allebé’s hand moving and pausing. It reminds me that painting, like writing, is about physical expression. The materials create a record of movement, emotion, and thought. And it’s all about leaving a mark, isn’t it? Leaving a trace of ourselves, for others to interpret and respond to.