Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1906

This letter was written by Antoine Lumière to Philip Zilcken in 1906. The thing that strikes me about it is the pressure of the pen, the way it ebbs and flows. Art-making for me is about the relationship between the gesture and the material, and here you can really see that. Look at the swoop of the cursive, see how the ink pools in certain places, how each word is built from a series of impulsive marks, some thicker than others? There is a rhythm and a kind of nervous energy in that movement. Like the painter Cy Twombly, Lumiere seems to be embracing the spontaneous, even erratic qualities of the gesture. Ultimately it's about the conversation with the materials themselves. It reminds us that art isn’t just about representation or perfect execution, but about the act of creation, the choices made, and the energy left on the surface.