Brief aan Philip Zilcken before 1928

Rose Imel wrote this letter to Philip Zilcken at an unknown date, presumably with a pen and ink on paper. The handwriting leans a little to the left, which gives it a personal, intimate feel. I get the sense of someone leaning into the writing, like a confidante sharing a secret. Look at the way the letters loop and swirl, especially in the salutation, "Cher Maitre", so full of emotion. The letters aren’t perfect, they have little quirks, some words bunch together, others stretch out, which makes it seem so human, so fallible. There’s a rhythm to the script, like a dance across the page. The ink looks like it was applied with a light touch, the downstrokes, give a certain weight to the words, but they never feel heavy-handed. It makes you wonder about the artist’s state of mind as they wrote it - were they rushing, or were they taking their time, savoring each word? It reminds me a bit of Cy Twombly’s scrawls, but with a touch more tenderness. Art, like letter-writing, is about the process of communication. It’s about the act of reaching out and connecting with someone else, even if that connection is fleeting or ambiguous.