Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1905

This is a postcard to Philip Zilcken by Maurits van der Valk. I look at this card and I think about the hand of the artist, Van der Valk, and the way their touch has marked this thing. It’s got stamps and writing – the material of the everyday, really. I imagine him holding the card, deciding where to put the address, how much space to leave for the message. It’s a bit like a painting – you start with a blank surface and then you have to decide how to fill it. The stamps feel like these little abstract shapes, breaking up the surface. And the handwriting itself is a kind of drawing, all those loops and lines and the way the ink sits on the page. It's like he's not just writing words but composing a visual thing. Artists are always responding to each other, even across time. Looking at this card, I feel connected to Van der Valk and all the other artists who have tried to make something meaningful out of simple materials.