Brief aan Philip Zilcken en Henriette Wilhelmina van Baak Possibly 1926

This letter, addressed to Philip Zilcken and Henriette Wilhelmina van Baak, was written by Rose Imel. You can see how the ink bleeds into the paper. It looks like it was written with a fountain pen. The artist’s hand moves quickly, forming the looping strokes of the French script. I can imagine the artist sitting at their desk, pen in hand, feeling the weight of their words as they poured out onto the page. What do you think they were thinking about? It feels pretty intimate, doesn’t it? You can feel the scratch of the pen, the pressure, and the flow. The letters lean into each other and huddle together, just like thoughts when they’re forming into words. Letters feel like paintings sometimes – all that texture, all that rhythm and all that mark-making. Each stroke becomes a gesture, a whisper of feeling and intention. This letter reminds me of the paintings of Cy Twombly, all scratchy and raw. We artists, we're all in conversation with each other, borrowing and lending inspiration across time. Painting is a form of expression, where ambiguity and uncertainty allow for so many readings.