Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1909 - 1915

This “Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken” seems to me like an artwork in itself. It's a postcard, with handwriting, ink stamps, and a postage stamp. I can imagine Vittorio Pica writing this note to his friend Philip Zilcken, a painter, probably about art, maybe gossip, or just everyday life. The handwriting—it’s like a direct trace of the artist's hand, forming words, ideas, feelings. Notice the stamp; it is a burst of red, disrupting the surface. It marks the passage of time, the journey of the card. It’s got that satisfying blunt thud of the stamper, a sound I love. Then there's the address, carefully inscribed, connecting two people, two places, two minds. I think the act of writing, like painting, is a way of thinking through doing. There’s an intimacy to handwriting that’s so different from typing. It's tactile, like the artist is actually in conversation with another. These old postcards are a reminder of how artists connect, inspire, and support each other, across time and space.