Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1916 - 1919

This is a briefkaart, a postcard, to Philip Zilcken, written in Italian sometime around the turn of the last century. It’s a process of communication, of course, but also of bureaucracy, marked with stamps and censor marks. Look at the way the ink bleeds slightly into the paper. It’s not precious or exact, more about the gesture of writing, the personal touch in this small rectangle destined to travel. See how the address is written on the right, in a practiced hand, while the message is crammed in on the left, almost an afterthought. It is like a drawing, a composition of words and cancellations. I am reminded of Cy Twombly’s works, with their scribbled lines and layered marks. Twombly elevated the everyday gesture of writing into high art, and here, in this humble postcard, we see a similar impulse at play. It’s the beauty in the mundane, the poetry of the postal service.