Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1917

This Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken was made with ink on paper by Adriaan Pit sometime around 1917. Look at this flurry of script! There's something deeply appealing about seeing language as a physical act, isn't there? The way the ink bleeds and feathers into the paper’s surface. See how some lines are thick and assertive, while others trail off into delicate wisps? This reminds me that writing, like painting, is a process of addition and subtraction, of pushing and pulling. The writer lays down these marks, then maybe hesitates, changes direction, or reinforces a line, just like I do in my paintings. There's a real feeling of immediacy to this piece, isn't there? Like we're catching a glimpse of the artist's thought process, unfolding in real-time. I think about Cy Twombly, who also made writing and drawing an integral part of his paintings. And it makes you wonder, what is the difference, really, between writing and drawing? Are they not both just different ways of marking our presence in the world?