Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1901 - 1920

This is a letter to Philip Zilcken, dating back to 1901, penned by Henriëtte Holst-Hendrix, and just look at those handwritten letterforms, so elegant and purposeful. The marks of the pen create a kind of texture, a rhythm across the page. It’s like a dance, each word a step, and the whole letter a choreography of thought. The ink, a muted grey, speaks of time and memory. You can almost feel the texture of the paper, sense the weight of the words, the intent behind them. The density of the script varies, with some strokes bolder than others, giving depth and dimension to the surface, it’s this kind of tonal control that I find fascinating. It’s a simple letter, but it reveals so much about the writer, her process, her care. Notice the small ink blot towards the bottom of the page, a lovely imperfection! There's a directness and immediacy in the letter that reminds me of Cy Twombly's scribbled paintings, where the act of writing becomes a form of drawing, a way of thinking through making. And just as Twombly’s work invites multiple readings, so too does this letter, it's more than just words on paper, it's a relic, an invitation.