Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1907

Vittorio Pica wrote this letter to Philip Zilcken with ink on paper, and postmarked it back in 1912. It’s interesting to see a kind of spontaneous draftsmanship here. I mean, he was just writing a letter, but there’s a quality to handwriting that is so bodily. Look at the scratchy, urgent “Très-Pressé” with the line underneath, a bold stroke that makes the text more legible. I imagine him, pen in hand, quickly dashing off this note, maybe thinking about his correspondence as a kind of performance, the words flowing like a conversation. The materiality of the ink, the paper—they all play a role in how we experience the urgency and personality embedded in this everyday gesture. It’s a reminder that making art and communicating are deeply intertwined. Every mark, every word, is a trace of our presence and a bridge to connect with others across time.