Brief aan August Allebé 1875 - 1927

This is Annie Ermeling's letter to August Allebé, and it’s made with ink on paper. The ink flows across the page with a beautiful cadence, like a dance of dark and light. Look at the looped 'L' in ‘zal’, it’s like a little flourish, a moment of joyful abandon amidst the formality of the grid, which speaks to the rhythm of life itself, full of structure, but also spontaneous expression. The overall impression is one of delicate control, a testament to the power of simple materials. The pressure of the nib on the paper, the subtle variations in line weight, it all adds up to something quite moving. It reminds me of Cy Twombly’s drawings, how he could make the simplest mark feel so monumental. I’m left thinking about how art is, at its core, a conversation, a passing of notes between people across time. It invites us to linger, to question, to embrace the beautiful messiness of interpretation.