Visitekaartje aan Philip Zilcken before 1919

Barbara Elisabeth van Houten dashed off this calling card to Philip Zilcken with ink on paper, with the note handwritten in Dutch. I imagine van Houten, perhaps in a flurry, wanting to be gracious but also efficient, the pen dancing across the card. It's so intimate, like a little performance just for Zilcken's eyes. You can see her personality in every swirl and stroke. I can feel her presence in the pressure of the pen on paper, those elegant loops and flicks. The slight variations in line weight is like a tiny heartbeat, a quiet hum between two people. It reminds me that art, even in its most functional form, is about connection, about leaving a trace of yourself in the world, and how we communicate with each other.