Prentbriefkaart aan Joop Sjollema

This is a postcard to Joop Sjollema, sent sometime in the 1930s, likely made with pen and ink. I love seeing the back of postcards, because the act of writing is such a process. Here, the texture of the paper is palpable. It has aged to an off-white, bearing the marks of time and handling. Look at the handwriting, the elegant loops and flourishes, the way the ink bleeds slightly into the paper. It’s full of personality and immediacy. Then, there’s the stamp, a small circle of intricate design, pressed onto the surface, anchoring the message in a specific time and place. The way the handwriting crowds the space, filling every available inch, makes me think of Cy Twombly. It's like a painterly gesture, a dance of line and form across the surface. Ultimately, a postcard is just a humble object, but it carries so much history and emotion within it.