Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1914

This Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken by Willem Bastiaan Tholen is at the Rijksmuseum. It’s writing, not painting, but handwriting is a kind of gestural drawing. The marks are made with a pen— a dark, scratchy line against a pale ground. I wonder what Tholen was thinking when he dashed this off? Was he in a hurry, or was this his usual script? I imagine him pausing, mid-sentence, considering the weight of each word. The address is for Ph. Zilcken, ‘Kunstschilder’, which means ‘artist’ in Dutch, so this is a message between fellow painters, two people in conversation about something. Tholen’s work usually depicts tranquil landscapes and domestic scenes. Did he send this postcard from a quiet canal side, or perhaps a bustling cafe? Was there some urgency in his message? Artists are always communicating with each other, inspiring each other across time. In painting, or writing, we embrace ambiguity, and that allows for so many different interpretations.