Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1919

This postcard to Philip Zilcken was made by Léon Paschal, probably around 1919, with ink on paper, a medium that’s all about immediacy and directness. The mark-making here is so personal, so tied to the hand of the artist. Look at the loops and flourishes in the handwriting, the way the ink pools in certain spots, creating a kind of textural rhythm across the surface. It’s like a dance of pressure and release. And the sepia tones, warm and faded, add to the feeling of intimacy. I find myself focusing on the sender's signature in the bottom left, the L.P. It's so small and unassuming, yet it carries the weight of the entire message. It reminds me that art, even in its most fleeting forms, is always a conversation, a reaching out from one person to another across time and space. Like Cy Twombly, Paschal embraces the beauty of imperfection, the idea that meaning is never fixed but always in flux.