Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken before 1906

Curator: Let's take a closer look at "Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken," a mixed-media drawing on paper created before 1906 by Grada Hermina Marius. It incorporates pen, ink, and perhaps other media. Editor: Immediately, the spidery elegance of the handwriting grabs me. It’s like a little dance across the page. You can feel the writer's hand and the era. What jumps out to you in terms of process or…dare I say…materials? Curator: Well, seeing as this is a personal letter—or 'briefkaart' as it were, handwritten as they used to be back in the day—we can reflect on the very infrastructure and economy around such objects. It reveals so much labor: the manufacturer of the paper, inks, printing of the 'Briefkaart' title itself... it's quite detailed in its layers of work, really. Not to mention the postal system! All before even one word was handwritten. Editor: Exactly! Imagine composing that letter in that specific moment in time! Did she spill ink? Was her pen nib scratching at the page, struggling for its survival? And what was she thinking at the time, given that handwritten word holds memory! Curator: I think we can view this as a moment captured. Given Marius’s wider body of work and life of working and making things, that materiality translates across other pieces too! It reveals so much about that turn-of-the-century commitment to communication. Editor: It truly transforms an ordinary item into an almost archaeological record, a whisper from the past brought to life through ink and paper. A peek into Marius' daily dealings as well as reminding of more intimate, vulnerable modes of communications from the era gone by. Curator: Absolutely, and considering the layers of labor woven into a humble "Briefkaart," its survival speaks volumes.