Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1911 - 1921

This is Edmond Picard’s letter to Philip Zilcken, written with ink on paper sometime in the past. The letter is a response, as the title says, a kind of follow up to an earlier conversation. I love that the writing leans, each line a little unstable, yet resolved. The ink has a density, a darkness, you can almost feel the pressure of the pen on the page. The letters swell and contract, like breath. And look at the stains and marks around the writing - they’re part of the process, right? The evidence of life, of thought, bleeding through. There’s something about the imperfection of it all that makes it feel so alive. It reminds me of Cy Twombly, who also used writing in his paintings, blurring the lines between language and gesture. Art is just a conversation, after all, a way of reaching out, even across time.