Bedankkaart aan Philip Zilcken before 1919

This card was made in Amsterdam in April 1919. It's a thank you note to Philip Zilcken. It's anonymously made so we don't know much about who created it. Look how words are laid down in dark ink, pressed against paper. It's a different kind of mark-making than a painting, but it too is a laying down of intention. It's not just a message, but a moment frozen in time. I imagine the person choosing each letter style, each line break. I can almost see them carefully considering the balance of form and feeling, much like how I approach a canvas. The arrangement of text might be their way of working through grief and communicating a difficult emotion, just like the Abstract Expressionists. And it makes me wonder, what are we thanking today? Who do we appreciate? Maybe it's time to send a card, or maybe it's time to pick up a brush.