Prentbriefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1921 - 1927

Curator: This object, dated to sometime between 1921 and 1927, is a picture postcard addressed to Philip Zilcken. It features a pen and ink drawing, executed with incredible calligraphic detail, on paper. Editor: It gives off a very intimate feel. Something about the handwritten script really personalizes what would otherwise be an everyday message. Almost secretive, don’t you think? Curator: Precisely. Postcards like this were central to social networks and broader communication systems. It allows us to imagine how messages and visual culture were shared across borders and classes during a particular period. And if we consider who Zilcken was—a prominent artist, critic and printmaker—the choice of materials and the handwritten text speak volumes. It gives a different context than type written correspondence. Editor: Thinking about materiality, I’m struck by the relationship between the accessibility of mass-produced paper and ink, and the artistic effort applied to its surface. Curator: Right. Here, a mass produced card becomes a canvas, transforming mundane communication into a unique, crafted object. Editor: Do you see that mark from the post stamp as a kind of unplanned addition of its layers of cultural activity, layered across a personal moment? Curator: Exactly! It marks not just the transmission of mail, but also its passage through time. And seeing the stamps there gives a sense of how political symbols became absorbed into everyday transactions and routines. The postal system, in itself, was deeply ingrained into people's lives and so its markings become significant traces on something like this postcard. Editor: Absolutely. These small ephemera often end up being really rich cultural artefacts, aren’t they? Curator: Absolutely, in the study of art, even an overlooked, hand-written message such as this speaks to a deeper and profound social context.