Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1901 - 1917

This unassuming postcard addressed to Philip Zilcken was made sometime around 1898 by Carel Nicolaas Storm van 's-Gravesande. It’s an artifact of correspondence, an everyday object imbued with the potential for connection. I imagine Storm van 's-Gravesande, a contemporary of Whistler and the Impressionists, standing at his easel in the open air. Perhaps he dashed off a landscape on the front and then quickly scribbled this address with a flourish, sealing it with that mint green Dutch stamp. He had a life of movement as he was a true traveller. I love how the smudged postal marks, the elegantly penned address, and the printed word ‘briefkaart’ all contribute to its layered surface, hinting at a story and history. It reminds me of a Cy Twombly painting. Each mark, whether intentional or accidental, plays a role in the work’s overall composition and meaning. It is a work of chance encounter. Artists create in dialogue, echoing and responding to one another across time, inspiring new ideas and directions, like whispers in a visual conversation. And in the end, it is up to us to carry on the dialogue.