Briefkaart aan Jan Veth Possibly 1921 - 1927

This is a Briefkaart aan Jan Veth, or postcard, by Gideon Busken Huet, a note sent sometime around 1921. The marks here, while not paint, are still a kind of making—the smudged ink of the postmark, the deliberate looping script of the sender’s address. It’s all a form of drawing, of bearing witness. The blue stamp is particularly striking, a block of intense color against the faded paper. It’s like a tiny painting embedded in a field of text, a figure striding forward, full of purpose. The stamp gives an official seal, and the writing is more personal, more fallible. Look at how the ink fades and thickens in places, revealing the pressure of the hand. It makes you feel like you’re right there, looking over the shoulder of the person who wrote this. Art is always a conversation, right? This card reminds me of the way artists like Cy Twombly used handwriting as a kind of abstract mark making. It’s not just about what is written, but about the act of writing itself, the physical trace of thought becoming form. And there’s always something a little mysterious, a little unknowable, in those traces.