Brief aan August Allebé Possibly 1915

This letter, by Carel Lodewijk Dake to August Allebé, is rendered in gray ink. The letters cascade down the page, each word a deliberate stroke. I can imagine Dake writing this, the pen scratching against the paper, the weight of each word considered. Maybe the ink was running low, necessitating a fine, economic line. The pale gray ink on the white paper gives it a ghostly, ethereal quality. It's like a whisper from the past, a quiet conversation between artists. In a way, writing is a form of drawing, and drawing, a form of writing. Dake, like many artists, straddles the line between these two worlds. This letter is a reminder that art isn't just about the finished product. It's about the process, the conversation, the exchange of ideas. We see the artist's hand, his intention, his desire to connect. The whole history of art is full of these kinds of conversations. We artists are all just talking to each other across time.