Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1912

This letter to Philip Zilcken, was written by Victor Eugène Louis de Stuers in February of 1912. You can see, from the gestures, that he wrote it quickly, without hesitation. I like to imagine him writing this letter, trying to find the right turn of phrase to express his feeling, the ink bleeding into the page, marking its surface and creating a texture, a physical manifestation of thought. The materiality of the letter, the paper and ink, become a record of his presence and his thoughts, a form of embodied expression. The handwriting itself becomes a kind of drawing. Each stroke and curve of the pen is a mark, a gesture that communicates not just information, but feeling and intention. I wonder if de Stuers knew, when he penned this letter, that one day it would be on display, a physical object, speaking to future generations?