Conceptbrief en afschrift van een brief aan Jac van Looij Possibly 1907

This is a letter, written in Amsterdam, in July 1897, by August Allebé. What strikes me is the relationship between the starkness of the paper and the movement of the ink. It’s all about process, the act of writing becoming a dance across the page. Looking closer, you see the texture—almost frantic, yet controlled. There’s a real physicality to the medium, a sense of the writer’s hand in motion. See how the lines thicken and thin, revealing the pressure and speed of the pen. It reminds me of a musical score, each stroke a note in a personal composition. Allebé seems to nod to earlier artists like Rembrandt, by way of his dark and light play. Yet, it's as if he reinterprets this tradition through the lens of his own time. Ultimately, art is about embracing ambiguity, allowing for multiple readings. It's a conversation, an echo through time.