Brief aan August Allebé Possibly 1900 - 1927

Curator: Here we have a letter by Julie Mijnssen, titled "Brief aan August Allebé." The letter, rendered in ink on paper, likely dates from between 1900 and 1927, given its content and style. Editor: It has this beautiful melancholic script that drifts down the page. Immediately, I am drawn into this very intimate moment. Almost like spying on somebody’s thoughts, something delicate, fragile... private. Curator: Indeed. The very medium enhances this sense. Consider the semiotic weight of ink and paper, materials historically linked to intimate communication. The calligraphic style here serves not merely to transcribe language, but also to imbue the text with a sense of personality. Editor: And there is an ethereal feel in the swirls and curls of the handwriting, like music translated onto the page. I can almost imagine the person writing it – the rhythm of the words dancing off their pen. I mean, do you get that, or am I just being a hopeless romantic? Curator: No, not at all. While my approach is less imaginative, I find it pertinent to note how the visual arrangement mirrors conventional letter-writing formats of the period. This, of course, highlights the function of language but in service of composition... Editor: Oh sure, composition… While you analyse its layout, I am interested in that vulnerability, I mean what's so powerful they have to set it down in ink? Did the artist hope, dream, fear...? I think that's how the magic emerges, you know. Curator: Of course. Although I think, approaching this work formally, considering Julie Mijnssen’s choice of calligraphy, this creates a rhythm, a structure. This enables us to interpret the narrative intent of this composition more coherently… Editor: True enough. Still, there is always more, in art and everything. Anyway, thanks Julie for this glimpse! It made me want to buy a pen, light a candle and write somebody a letter tonight. Curator: A perfectly valid interpretation, if perhaps, tangential to... Well, I agree though, seeing the artistry in this handwriting style creates an urge to revive handwritten correspondence!