Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1900 - 1915

This is a postcard addressed to Philip Zilcken by Carel Nicolaas Storm van 's-Gravesande, and it's interesting how the humble postcard can become a vessel for art. The colour palette is really restrained, almost monochromatic, but the handwriting is beautiful, with these wonderfully loopy ascenders and descenders, which lend the piece a sense of airiness. The stamp and the franking mark, the postal markings, they add layers of texture and history. I’m drawn to the "B" in Bezuidenhout, it almost dances off the page. It’s got this energy, a kind of joyful abandon that reminds me to let go in my own practice. Van 's-Gravesande’s etching work often captures a similar feeling of transience and immediacy, a sense of the fleeting moment made permanent. It makes me think of artists like Cy Twombly, who elevated handwriting and the gestural mark to high art. It’s a reminder that art is everywhere, even in the everyday objects that pass through our lives.