Briefkaart aan Jan Veth Possibly 1919

Isaac Israels created this briefkaart, or postcard, to Jan Veth, and it now resides in the Rijksmuseum. At first glance, the arrangement of the green postage mark and the scripted text appears almost haphazard. The composition, however, with its overlay of postal markings and address, functions as a structured format for conveying information. Israels uses the readymade grid of the postcard to explore how personal communication can be structured and contained within standardised forms. The cursive handwriting, deliberately askew, interacts with the rigid lines of the postal stamp to challenge the impersonal nature of mass communication. In semiotic terms, the card becomes a signifier, where each element—stamp, text, and layout—contributes to a complex message beyond the literal words. Consider how the artist uses the very structure of the postcard to question the boundaries between private expression and public systems, reflecting broader debates about modernity and representation.