Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1915

This little card, Brief aan Philip Zilcken, by Fenna de Meyier is an invitation of some sort, covered in layered handwritten notes. It’s like a tiny poem. I imagine de Meyier hunched over this, maybe at her kitchen table, the light casting long shadows as she writes, pauses, then writes again. Look at the pale background, it’s been overwritten by the announcement of the club event. Then the handwritten words flow in all directions, like thoughts bubbling to the surface, she writes in the margins and squeezes words between the lines – a real palimpsest of thought. The script dances across the surface, each stroke a whisper, a shout, a secret shared only between her and Philip. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's scribbled surfaces, or even some of Basquiat's word-based paintings. There’s such intimacy here, and the way that de Meyier uses her pen, it’s clear that these artists are all in conversation, influencing and responding to one another across time. They show us that making art is more about asking questions than giving answers, and embracing the beauty of not knowing.