Briefkaart aan Jan Toorop before 1919

This postcard was sent to Jan Toorop, most likely in the early 20th century, by Darío de Regoyos y Valdés, and is a record of a human gesture, not unlike a painter's. The stamps and handwritten addresses, the smeared ink, it all speaks of a journey. I love seeing the traces of the hand, the imperfections, like the smudges and blurred postmarks, a bit like the pentimenti visible in a painting, when the artist changes their mind. The layering of postal marks, each stamp an imperfect circle, creates a kind of abstract composition on its own, an echo of contemporary painting. It's almost like a proto-collage, a random coming together of bureaucratic marks that accidentally becomes something beautiful. Looking at this I am reminded of Kurt Schwitters and his collages of found ephemera, revealing the beauty in the everyday, in the discarded. Art is an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas, and this humble postcard reminds us that beauty can be found in the most unexpected places, and perhaps that it can be stumbled upon without even looking for it.