Brief aan Ary Johannes Lamme en Adriana Lamme-van Geller Possibly 1873

Curator: Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack, a 19th-century Dutch figure, probably penned this, let’s say around 1873. It’s an ink drawing on paper, a letter addressed to Ary Johannes Lamme and Adriana Lamme-van Geller, and the script dances! Editor: It’s got such an immediate intimacy. You get the sense it was written quickly, perhaps late in the evening, by the light of a single candle, and there’s a moodiness, despite, you know, its plainness. Curator: Handwriting as a visual language—I am here for it. Look how the strokes vary, thickening with emphasis, thinning with speed, full of personality. It suggests so much about Quack himself, impatient yet thoughtful. It reads like music to my eyes. Editor: I note how the negative space also operates almost sculpturally. The strategic placement of the script anchors it to the paper. It reminds me of principles within Gestalt psychology, elements uniting to give a sense of the whole rather than disjointed marks. Curator: It's amazing how a simple document—really, just a letter—becomes art through the very act of thoughtful composition. One can wonder if the letter held beautiful secrets. One can ponder who it may have touched! Editor: Perhaps the most beautiful art comes from the personal. Curator: Exactly. And this feels remarkably intimate and human. Editor: Agreed. The materiality—the ink bleeding ever so slightly into the paper—just adds to the authenticity, the undeniable, quiet presence of someone bearing witness.