Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1911 - 1919

This envelope, inscribed by Vittorio Pica, is a painting in its own right! Look at the pressure of the pen, light and dark in equal measure, and imagine the hand that guided it, thinking, pausing, writing. The artist is in conversation with the postal worker, the recipient, and time itself. The stamps, so physical and bureaucratic, are also these little jewels of color. They lift the eye. They break up the space. I can imagine Vittorio feeling a bit nervous, maybe a bit excited, as he wrote this letter. The loop of each letter, the slant of the words – it’s all so human, so imperfect. The envelope itself becomes a canvas, a space for expression beyond the message it carries. Think of other artists working at this time, how letters, postcards, telegrams were essential for their community and artistic development. And that’s what painting is, really – a conversation, a way of reaching out, of touching someone across time and space. It’s never just about what’s on the surface.