Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1913

This letter to Philip Zilcken, was written by François de Bas sometime in the past, and it makes me think about all the other painters who were writing letters at the same time. You can just imagine him hunched over the page, scratching away, forming those looping, stylized letters. I can almost feel the pressure of the pen on the paper as he leans into each word. Maybe he was trying to impress someone with his perfect cursive. There’s something so immediate about handwriting, right? You get a sense of the person’s rhythm, their energy. I imagine De Bas getting frustrated with the imperfections of the writing process, or the ink smudging... I know I certainly do.