Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken before 1909

This is a postcard to Philip Zilcken by Johan Thorn Prikker. It's all done in purple and black ink, and it’s covered in official-looking stamps and seals. I can imagine the act of writing itself - the artist carefully forming each letter, the ink bleeding slightly into the paper. I sympathize with Thorn Prikker. What was he thinking when he made this? A postcard is such a casual, intimate form of communication. But the stamps and seals give it a sense of officialdom. It's like a little performance. The script feels like a gesture. You know, that flourish of the 'Z' in Zilcken, those sharp angles and loops. It’s all communicating feeling, intention, or meaning, like different forms of painting offer different ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world. Artists are always in conversation, exchanging ideas across time and inspiring one another's creativity.