Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1901 - 1923

Isaac Israels dashed off this postcard to Philip Zilcken, probably using whatever pen was at hand. It’s so casual, right? I can imagine him in a hurry, thinking about a million other things. The blue ink signature is like a flourish, bold and quick. The stamps feel kind of perfunctory, just there to get the card delivered. What I like about this piece is the handwriting. It's got a kind of haphazard quality that you often see in paintings, too, where the artist is just trying to get something down quickly. It’s like he’s thinking out loud with his pen, not too precious. He's probably thinking about the modern life he depicted in his paintings, or maybe just the next social engagement. It reminds you that artists are always communicating, always leaving traces. And that's exactly the conversation that continues today.