Brief aan Jan Hendrik Maschaupt 1836 - 1881

Curator: We are looking at "Brief aan Jan Hendrik Maschaupt" by Adolphe Mouilleron, likely penned sometime between 1836 and 1881, a simple ink drawing on paper that resides here in the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My first thought is that it's deceptively simple, even fragile-looking. There's a vulnerability to handwritten correspondence that digital communication just doesn't have. The handwriting itself becomes a kind of portrait of the writer. Curator: Absolutely. Consider the social context of letter writing at the time. This wasn't just functional communication; it was a performance of self, subject to social and aesthetic expectations. Calligraphy manuals were widespread. This is in that milieu but perhaps not as polished as what was preferred during the era. Editor: It does have a rawness. It appears someone is going to see someone else "ce matin" or sometime around noon, or meet again by 1:30 pm in a place called Tautat, but there are additional handwritten annotations underneath I am finding challenging to parse through. It feels very intimate and spur-of-the-moment. This could also perhaps shed light on the socio-political life of that time; it's casual but maybe revealing? Curator: You bring up an excellent point. How accessible was this type of exchange? To whom? Letter writing signifies access to education, leisure, and a certain level of social mobility. This access was of course deeply structured by gender, class, and race. Looking closely at who wrote this, who was the addressee and why could certainly reveal nuances about social power. Editor: Thinking about contemporary art practices, I wonder how we might re-imagine the letter in a world saturated with digital ephemera. Could this simple act of correspondence become a radical act of resistance against the surveillance and alienation inherent in so much of our online communication? Curator: That is quite a fascinating thought! Considering how we are continuously generating content for various online platforms, which raises the questions around personal history and public access to it, looking back at letters helps to understand what we share, who we share it with, and whether we retain control of our personal narratives. Editor: It gives one pause, doesn't it? Curator: It certainly does. It reveals the multiple meanings held in simple objects from our past.