Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1900 - 1928

This is ‘Brief aan Philip Zilcken’ by Jan Toorop, made in 1900 with ink on paper. Look closely. Can you see the movement of his hand? I can almost feel the scratching of the nib across the page! Toorop’s handwriting is full of energy. It’s dense, layered, and urgent. You can feel him pressing down hard on the page as he moves from left to right, line after line. You can see him thinking, formulating ideas, and trying to pin them down. I wonder, what’s so important that he has to share it right now? Perhaps he’s just impatient. I like the idea of artists communicating and sharing ideas across time. We can look at Toorop’s letter today and feel inspired to grab a pen and paper ourselves. It reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation. We’re all just participants, responding to each other across time.