Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1918

This letter to Philip Zilcken was composed in 1918 by C.J. de Vries. I’m imagining the act of writing it and the scene around its creation. The typed words strike me first, like an impression—pressed firmly onto the page. The blue ink sits formally on the page. I can only assume the letter was some sort of formal business correspondence. The letterhead, the formal greeting— it is all so very official. Yet look at the signature! That’s where the humanity of the letter comes through. That scrawled mark feels like a grand gesture. I can imagine de Vries taking the pen and, in a swift, almost performative motion, signing the letter, leaving a trace of their presence and personality in the stark formality of the typed words. It reminds me of Cy Twombly or Joan Mitchell. It is a brief, almost accidental moment of free expression which transforms the entire letter. The whole thing is sort of painting in disguise.