Brief aan Anna Dorothea Dirks en Jan Veth before 1902

Curator: Here, we have “Brief aan Anna Dorothea Dirks en Jan Veth” or "Letter to Anna Dorothea Dirks and Jan Veth," a drawing created before 1902 by Jacoba Cornelia Jolles-Singels, crafted with ink on paper. What's your first take on this piece? Editor: Immediately, I’m drawn into the intimate and almost archaic feeling of this letter. The slightly yellowed paper and precise penmanship create a mood that's both delicate and earnest, like a treasured personal correspondence you would happen upon tucked away in your grandmother’s attic. Curator: Indeed! It exudes warmth, doesn't it? Look at the letter's visual composition, which hinges heavily on calligraphic art. The fluid and intertwined text acts almost as a pictorial element, giving an added artistic significance. Editor: I love how the artist isn’t just communicating a message, but doing so with a visual flair—with hand-drawn type—as though she’s breathing life into the words themselves. Notice that charming little monogram in the upper-left corner. The penwork is so careful and exact that it invites us to contemplate what handwritten communication meant at the time this letter was composed. Curator: Exactly. Letters like these weren't merely utilitarian means of transmitting data; they were expressions of self, personality, and connection. Also, look at the slant of the letters, slightly leaning forward—a symbol perhaps of the artist's warm hopes for the recipients. Editor: True, and one also finds something deeply expressive in the imperfect: a certain line quality and depth impossible to simulate mechanically. A letter like this becomes an invaluable record of personality. One wonders, also, who Anna and Jan were, and why the artist chose such a deliberate way to connect with them. Curator: I’m glad we got a chance to dive into it today. Thanks to such intimate forms, we feel a thread pulled directly from the past, enriching the moment in the gallery right here and now. Editor: It has that marvelous quality—of feeling less like "art" and more like life itself. It reminds us of the gentle, human acts of thoughtfulness.