Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1913 - 1919

This letter to Philip Zilcken was written in 1918 by Anton L. Koster, with ink on paper. Look at the way Koster makes each mark, like one continuous line, barely lifting the pen from the paper. You can see the trace of the hand, its rhythm almost like a musical score. The words, written in Dutch, have a real physicality to them. The ink varies from dark to light depending on the pressure of the pen, creating an almost sculptural quality. The letterform seems to dance across the page, with certain words or phrases emphasized by a bolder stroke. It's as if Koster isn’t just conveying information, but also creating a visual experience. I’m reminded of Cy Twombly and his painterly scrawls that also capture the energy of thought and movement. Koster, like Twombly, uses the act of writing to reveal the inner workings of the mind, finding beauty in the imperfect, tentative nature of language.