Brief aan Mien Cambier van Nooten

This is a letter from Dick Ket to Mien Cambier van Nooten, written in 1939, made with ink on paper. I’m drawn to the all-over quality of the handwriting, the consistent pressure and weight of the lines, and how this renders the text as a unified, almost abstract field. It makes me think of artmaking as a process, a dance between control and surrender. Ket’s use of the handwritten form is so intimate. The texture of the paper seems smooth, and the ink sits on its surface with a delicate precision. This is not a casual note; each word is carefully rendered, each letter deliberate. Look at the way he forms the descenders on the ‘g’s and ‘p’s, extending them into delicate loops. It’s as if each word is a small drawing, a tiny universe of meaning and form. It reminds me a bit of the obsessive detail in some of Agnes Martin’s grid paintings, or the dense, layered surfaces of Cy Twombly’s scrawls. Art is always an ongoing conversation, an exchange of ideas across time. This letter is a testament to that, embracing ambiguity and multiple interpretations rather than fixed meanings.