Presentielijst van de vergadering van 10 juni 1904 voor de Albert Neuhuys-hulde Possibly 1904 - 1910

This “Presentielijst van de vergadering” – Attendance List - was made with pen on paper on June 10, 1904, by a group of artists and admirers, and what strikes me immediately is the sheer physical presence of the script. The nib of the pen seems to scratch and bite at the paper, leaving behind thicks and thins, light and dark, inky trails. Look at the name “August Allebé” about two thirds of the way down, that emphatic downstroke on the A, the loops of the g’s and the sharp, almost aggressive angle of the accent on the e. Each signature is like a tiny performance, a declaration of self, and when you put them all together, this humble document becomes a fascinating constellation of gestures, a kind of choreography of the hand. It reminds me of Cy Twombly’s scribbled paintings, where writing becomes drawing, and drawing becomes a way of feeling, thinking, and being in the world. Art is always in conversation, isn’t it?