Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1901 - 1908

This is Theo van Hoytema’s ‘Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken’. A simple, yet charged, card. The handwriting swoops and dives in that old-fashioned calligraphic way, all addressed to someone called Philip Zilcken, whoever he was! I imagine Hoytema taking his pen, perhaps a little distracted, the world pressing in. Did he pause, feel the weight of the nib on the paper, the ink bleeding slightly into the fibers? I think of Cy Twombly, how he made marks that were more like a dance than writing, turning writing into drawing. Hoytema’s writing here is so linear, almost like a series of lines. It’s interesting how a humble postcard can carry so much history, so much potential for connection. This card reminds me that all art is a form of correspondence—artists sending messages across time, hoping someone will pick them up and feel something. It's a way of reaching out, saying, "I was here, I felt this, can you feel it too?”