Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1918

This is a letter written in 1917 by Charles Snabilié to Philip Zilcken. Look at the quick, consistent marks the artist makes across the page; you can tell he has written a lot of letters in his time! There’s a real flow to the application of ink, an assuredness, that speaks to the process of writing itself. I’m really drawn to the physical quality of the letter. See how the ink sits slightly raised on the page. It’s dark, but not quite black, like a well used pen is beginning to run out. If you look closely, you can see where the artist has pressed harder, creating a thicker line, and where the pen has glided more lightly, leaving a finer trace. Notice the corrections and crossings out, there's a spontaneity to the handwritten form that feels very intimate, like eavesdropping on a private conversation. It makes me think of the letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, in which we see a similar kind of outpouring of thoughts and feelings, laid bare on the page. Art, in this sense, becomes a form of correspondence, a way of reaching out and connecting with others across time and space.