Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1926 - 1928

This is a letter from Charles Snabilié, written in Paris, on August 14th, 1926. Look at the density of the ink, how it pools in places, almost like a dark, glossy impasto in miniature. You get a sense of the writer’s hand moving across the page, the pressure and rhythm, the personality imbued in each stroke. The text itself is a dance of intention and accident. Notice where the lines become almost illegible due to the ink spreading, and how the handwriting varies in size and slant. See how this little patch becomes a kind of abstract composition in itself. It reminds us that artmaking is often a process of embracing the unpredictable. Snabilié’s letter shares an intimacy, a directness, similar to the paintings of Édouard Vuillard. While Snabilié uses words, and Vuillard uses paint, both capture the fleeting moments of everyday life with a similar delicate touch. They both remind us that art is about more than just representation, it's about feeling, about connection, and about making sense of the world in our own way.