Briefkaart aan Jan Veth before 1887

Curator: Take a look at this "Briefkaart aan Jan Veth," or "Postcard to Jan Veth," dating back to before 1887. It's a pen and ink drawing on paper, now residing in the Rijksmuseum, crafted by Willem Witsen. It's so unassuming! Editor: My first thought? Intimacy. It feels like stumbling upon someone’s personal correspondence, almost intruding on a private moment. I'm thinking of Derrida and the post card as epistolary eroticism. Curator: Exactly! There’s something deeply touching about the ephemerality of a handwritten note, especially when time turns it into an art object. Witsen uses ink and paper, two materials so common, and then transforms them through calligraphy. It's addressed to the art critic Jan Veth! I wonder what their relationship was like. Editor: Thinking about its functionality as a "briefkaart," a postcard is about speed and circulation, connecting places but also, inevitably, producing absences. It signifies a network of communication. Consider also the very public and legible markings of Dutch royalty and postage that authenticate the letter as a real commodity. It almost gives the missive more meaning beyond simply a brief message. Curator: And those postmarks –Amsterdam and Dordrecht – they're almost like little time capsules themselves. The stamp, the seals, it all builds a narrative of transit and place. Imagine this postcard traveling those distances. Editor: This journey emphasizes the crucial roles of infrastructure, geography, and technology in human communication and political economy in the late 19th century. These tools shape social bonds by enabling the rapid exchange of information, ideas, and feelings, despite potential differences and constraints, right? Curator: True! I am also seeing an artistic collaboration across time through someone discovering it later. A message tossed into the bottle that the future pulls up ashore, right? Editor: Beautifully said. This little postcard transcends its humble origins to become a poignant artifact about intimacy and time.