Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1901 - 1915

This is a letter to Philip Zilcken by J.A. Loeber Jr., its ink on paper has faded over time. It's dated Leiden, August 15th, 1897. I can imagine Loeber sitting at his desk, pen in hand, carefully forming each letter, thinking about Zilcken. What were they to each other? What was the nature of their exchange? The loops and swirls of the handwriting have such character, like an abstract painting built of tiny gestures, each stroke revealing the artist’s hand. You can sense the artist’s presence in the pressure and rhythm of the pen. There is a wooden spoon involved somehow and an etching… Isn’t that what we are all doing as artists, writing a letter to each other across time? Each mark, a conversation, a shared moment of creativity.