Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1901 - 1918

This letter to Philip Zilcken was written by Willem Witsen in 1901, and it feels like a peek into an intimate, personal exchange. The ink is faded, almost silver, against the aged paper, and the handwriting has a delicate, almost ephemeral quality, making the act of writing feel vulnerable and immediate. Look closely, and you can see the slight variations in pressure as Witsen formed each letter, a dance between intention and chance that I really appreciate. It's a process so much like painting. The translucence of the ink makes the words almost float on the surface, creating layers of meaning and association. It's like a visual whisper, isn't it? Similar to the correspondence between Paul Klee and Kandinsky, each artist exchanging ideas and reflecting on each other's practices through shared dialogues, each mark acting as a testament to the beauty found in artmaking, embracing ambiguity and the passage of time.