Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1921

This letter to Philip Zilcken is made with pen on paper. The lines and marks feel very immediate, but the artist is also writing words, so they have to think about what they want to say and how they want to say it. I can imagine Cato l' Hôpital in Paris in 1921, forming their cursive script, and letting feeling guide the pen across the surface. The artist is using a very dark ink, and the paper is thin, so the writing almost looks embossed on the page. The handwriting is idiosyncratic, like a painter's touch—totally particular. I love the idea of writing as an embodied expression, where the hand and the mind are connected and working together. To write is to work through ideas, to make them visible and tangible, like a painting. Each letter is like a brushstroke, adding up to something meaningful. It’s a beautiful kind of mark-making.