Brief aan August Allebé Possibly 1895 - 1899

This letter, likely from 1896 and by Christiaan Hendrik Jacob van Niftrik, presents itself as a study in contrasts between form and function, line and legibility. Its overall visual field is dominated by the dense, vertical strokes of handwriting, a pattern broken only by the occasional flourish. The uniformity suggests a deliberate engagement with the act of writing itself. The letter's texture comes through the ink's varying densities, creating a relief-like quality on the page. This textural and visual rhythm serves a dual purpose: to convey information and to present a structured field of aesthetic interest. Semiotically, the handwriting operates as a system of signs, where each stroke signifies not just a letter but also a gesture, an index of the writer's hand and intention. The structural arrangement of these signs into words and sentences forms a complex code that demands decipherment. Consider the letter as a site where language becomes an object, and communication is intertwined with material presence.