Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1907 - 1914

This postcard to Philip Zilcken is one of many sent by Vittorio Pica, who had a flair for casual correspondence as an art form. It's got that pale card colour, soft stamps and faded ink that somehow speaks of both ephemerality and endurance. The stamps, with their layered postmarks, remind me of the way abstract painters build up surfaces with glazes and erasures. And the handwriting, so elegant and casual at once, it's like a quick gestural drawing, capturing a moment in time. Look at the way the ink pools in certain areas, creating subtle variations in tone and texture. It is so easy to imagine him writing this; who writes like this now? There's something about the intimacy of a handwritten note that feels particularly poignant today, like a secret whispered across time. Think of Cy Twombly, also obsessed with handwriting, blurring the lines between text and image. Like Cy, Pica shows us how something throwaway can be something beautiful.