Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1924

This is a letter written with ink on paper by Lya Berger. The ink is kind of sepia-toned, and the handwriting is loopy, leaning into that cursive style our grandparents used. It's cool how the act of writing becomes a drawing here. The lines vary in thickness, and there are little flourishes and cross-outs, like a painter building up layers. It makes me think of Cy Twombly and how he turned writing into these big, gestural paintings. I wonder about the texture of the paper too. Was it smooth or rough? Did the ink bleed a little, creating fuzzy edges? All of that adds to the feeling of intimacy and immediacy, like we're right there, looking over Berger's shoulder as she's writing. Art, letters, life, it’s all about that messy, imperfect, beautiful process.