Brief aan Jan Veth Possibly 1906

This letter to Jan Veth was written with ink on paper by Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack in June of 1906. The even, rhythmic quality to the hand, the way the forms of the letters loop into each other, reminds me that writing is itself a form of drawing. It’s a process of gesture and pressure, like the application of paint to canvas. Look closely, and you can almost feel the drag of the pen across the page. The artist’s hand moves with a deliberate yet fluid motion. There’s an elegance and simplicity to the line, which dances across the page. See how the letters swell and contract, creating a delicate rhythm. The density of the writing creates a field, a texture. The blank space around the words becomes charged with a quiet energy. Quack’s letter reminds me of Cy Twombly's calligraphic paintings, where language and gesture merge into a beautiful, abstract composition. It shows how something as simple as a handwritten note can become a work of art.