Brief aan Mien Cambier van Nooten Possibly 1940 - 1943

Curator: Here we have “Brief aan Mien Cambier van Nooten” by Dick Ket, likely created between 1940 and 1943. It's ink on paper and currently resides in the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It looks like a handwritten letter; the script is very dense. I can’t read Dutch fluently, but it looks like an intimate communication. What stands out to you about this work? Curator: Well, the letter being written during the Nazi occupation is critical. Consider the act of writing, of intimate correspondence, as a form of resistance. The choice of calligraphy, which, while seemingly traditional, becomes radical through its sheer existence and subversion of imposed silences. How does this reframing alter your understanding? Editor: I see what you mean. The personal becomes political. Was the act of creating this letter itself a defiant act, irrespective of its content? Curator: Precisely! The very act of using "high art" calligraphy, typically reserved for official documents or formal correspondence, for a personal letter, becomes a subtle rebellion. It’s a reclamation of agency, an insistence on humanity in dehumanizing times. Doesn’t this change your perspective? Editor: Yes, it casts a totally new light on what I initially saw as simply a personal note. It speaks to the power of everyday resistance and finding subversive expression when other avenues are blocked. Curator: And it reminds us that even in the darkest periods, the human spirit finds ways to communicate, connect, and subtly defy oppression. That tension between personal expression and sociopolitical context is key to interpreting this piece. Editor: This has been incredibly insightful. I’ll definitely look at artworks with a more critical and historical perspective from now on. Curator: That's all that I can ask! Approaching art through an activist lens enriches our understanding and fosters critical dialogues that remain vital today.