Brief aan Philip Zilcken before 1908

Carel Nicolaas Storm van 's-Gravesande wrote this letter to Philip Zilcken, with ink on paper. The thing about letter writing is that it reveals the hand of the writer so intimately. We get a sense of the writer’s mood, their pace of thought, all through their handwriting. Look at how the ink pools and feathers on the page, suggesting a certain pressure and speed. The letters tilt and lean, forming a rhythm that feels almost musical. I wonder, did he pause mid-sentence, lost in thought, or did the words flow effortlessly from pen to paper? There’s a vulnerability in this kind of directness, a reminder of art’s ability to capture a moment in time. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's scribbled gestures – both artists using the act of writing to create something deeply personal and expressive, where legibility is secondary to the feeling conveyed.