Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1901 - 1903

This letter was written in March 1901 by Jan Toorop to Philip Zilcken, likely with a dip pen and dark sepia ink. It's a casual kind of script, not too fussy, but definitely intentional. You can see how certain strokes are thicker than others, the way the ink pools slightly at the start of each line, which gives the letter an amazing sense of presence. The page itself feels like it could be any scrap of paper that was lying around the studio. There's this beautiful tension between the formal quality of handwriting and the informality of the materials, like a rough and ready surface for intimate thoughts. Look at the signature, how it swoops and curls. It's almost like a little drawing. It reminds me that art is like a conversation. It’s about talking to each other, sharing ideas, and letting things evolve in unexpected ways. Like the way Jasper Johns referenced Duchamp, or Sherrie Levine re-photographed Walker Evans. It's all part of an ongoing process of questioning, exploring, and reinventing.