Brief aan Jan Veth Possibly 1917 - 1921

This is a letter from 1917 by Willem Witsen, and it’s all about the materiality of language. The looping strokes of Witsen's handwriting remind me of a calligraphic dance, with ink pooling in the curves and thin lines connecting the words. Look at the way the letters lean into each other, creating a sense of intimacy and urgency. It's like each word is trying to tell a secret. The texture of the paper probably has a story too – how it felt under Witsen's hand as he wrote, the absorbency of the ink, all these details really bring you closer. The letter gives me a sense of artmaking as a conversation, not just between Witsen and his recipient, but between the artist and the materials, and between the past and the present. Like the work of Cy Twombly, the unedited marks on the page really emphasizes the process of artmaking, where erasures or second thoughts aren't covered up. Ultimately, it’s a reminder that art is about communication, and every mark we make carries a piece of ourselves.