Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1900 - 1914

This is a letter written in Paris, in July of 1905, by Alidor Delzant. It is a kind of drawing, with the ink forming these curious, looping lines that create words. The thing about letters, especially hand-written ones, is that they are completely process-oriented. Delzant makes marks that become language, and the language then expresses a thought or feeling. Look at how the ink pools in certain areas, darker and thicker where the pen lingered. It’s like a little landscape of ink on paper. You can imagine Delzant's hand moving across the page, each word a small gesture. It’s interesting how the formality of language blends with the intimacy of handwriting. It reminds me a little of Cy Twombly, the way he used script as a painterly mark. Delzant's letter is like a tiny, personal artwork—a reminder that art is just another form of communication, like chatting with a friend, or writing a letter to Philip Zilcken.