Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1895

Curator: This is "Brief aan Philip Zilcken" or "Letter to Philip Zilcken" by Carel Nicolaas Storm van 's-Gravesande, possibly from 1895. It's currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It looks very immediate, raw. It has the material quality of a personal note hastily penned, especially with that slightly sepia-toned paper and flowing ink. Curator: Precisely. It offers us a glimpse into the artist’s network. Zilcken, also an artist, was instrumental in promoting Dutch art abroad. Correspondence like this sheds light on artistic collaborations and the art market of the time. Editor: Look at the quality of that ink work; you can tell that it’s been rapidly produced. It reminds us that this is both a work of careful practice and also casual correspondence and reveals the relationship between formal training and functional everyday use. It is ink on paper, and speaks volumes about art making as a social activity! Curator: We also get a sense of the Venice Biennale plans from that era, specifically for artwork submissions and how logistics of the show are managed. Van 's-Gravesande is noting sizes, titles... He is providing a quick guide to those works and how he envisions them. Editor: So, beyond its practical role, would you say the labor and thought processes involved in this letter, the way the message is physically articulated on the paper, are as important to it as its explicit purpose? Curator: I think so. It exemplifies that moment, doesn’t it? The materiality, the labor…all of it speaks volumes of late 19th century artistic dialogue. Editor: It leaves me pondering how different artistic collaborations might be shaped today in this age of emails and other modes of communication. Curator: Indeed. It’s a stark reminder of how even simple, utilitarian items like this ink-on-paper note are time capsules, imbued with so much historical and aesthetic information!