Brief aan Mien Cambier van Nooten Possibly 1939

Curator: This is “Brief aan Mien Cambier van Nooten” by Dick Ket, possibly from 1939. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My first impression is that this drawing resembles a page ripped from a personal diary, or maybe an intimate, if somewhat frenetic, letter. The overall tone feels… introspective and intense. Curator: Exactly. Ket, confined by health issues, crafted his world on paper. This piece, composed with pen and ink, presents us with a handwritten letter to someone named Mien Cambier van Nooten. He was known for his still lifes, but this drawing departs from his usual focus, revealing something much more personal. Editor: You know, as I look closer, the density of the text, the way lines almost overlap, evokes a sense of urgency or perhaps a mind racing with thoughts. Do you feel it’s a stream-of-consciousness piece, just spilling out onto the page? Curator: I think that's a good reading. The lack of clear structure gives it a raw, unfiltered quality. There are phrases in Dutch, little observations...it all feels very immediate. Note his references to art and literature woven throughout this hurried, looping script. He even cites “The Brothers Karamazov”! Editor: It strikes me that this work functions as a self-portrait, a representation of the artist's interiority revealed through handwriting. I am also thinking about what the presence of personal letters like this tells us about a sense of privacy, performance, and social circles during that time. Was Ket conscious of posterity here? Curator: His intention remains elusive, of course, but Ket's health struggles definitely framed his artistic output. There is such fragility to works like these that really capture that interior tension. Editor: For me, seeing art in such a textual and, I think, anxious form really blurs the boundary between private and public, and forces me to imagine how art history has traditionally valued such personal artifacts. It’s as if Ket knew that a future audience, us, would one day seek clues in his handwriting. Curator: I think you are right. There is an enduring symbolic power to objects such as this that invites our continued attention. The written word becomes art, and private becomes public. Editor: Well said, I will be thinking more about this artist and this letter now, its energy, secrets and urgency will continue to haunt me.