Brief aan Max Wilhelm Carl Weber en Anne Antoinette Weber-Van Bosse Possibly 1919

This letter to Max Wilhelm Carl Weber and Anne Antoinette Weber-Van Bosse was written by August Allebé in 1919. Look at how the ink of the handwriting seems to dance across the page; it almost feels like it’s alive. The texture of the paper is smooth, but you can see the slight indentations where the nib of the pen has pressed into it. This materiality reminds us that the act of writing is a physical process, just like painting. There’s a particular phrase near the bottom that catches my eye: "but as we often see, against some storm, a silence in the heavens." It is beautifully written, almost like a painting itself, an observation from the artist. It speaks to the artist’s own need for calm reflection and how the world, even in times of trouble, can offer solace. Thinking about other artists, I’m reminded of the letters of Van Gogh, which are also full of intimate details of an artist's life, work, and thinking. Art is an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time.