Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1920

This letter, "Brief aan Philip Zilcken", was written by Rose Imel in French, we think, to Philip Zilcken, and it's a whole mood. I love how the script just unfurls across the page, a real stream-of-consciousness kind of feel. You can almost see her hand moving, the pen scratching, maybe even hear the thoughts bubbling up as she commits them to paper. Look at the way the lines sometimes loop back on themselves, or how certain words seem to be given extra emphasis with a heavier stroke. For me it's about process, you know? It's like, here's this person, wrestling with ideas, emotions, whatever, and the writing itself becomes a record of that struggle. The ink is thin, but dark, the pressure applied when making the marks of each letter varies, just like if we were to paint with varying pressure on a canvas. It feels so raw and unfiltered, like a little piece of her inner world made visible. It reminds me of the kind of raw expression you see in the work of Cy Twombly. It's like she's saying, "Here I am, take it or leave it," and I find that incredibly compelling.