Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1911 - 1924

This “Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken” was sent by Gerardus Johannes Roermeester, though we don’t know exactly when. It’s a lovely example of how language can be art: Roermeester’s looping cursive sits alongside stamps, postmarks, and printed lines. It’s so linear and ordered, yet the whole thing feels like a piece of visual poetry. I like to think of the gesture of writing a letter as a physical act, not unlike making a painting. The pressure of the pen, the rhythm of the hand, the way the ink bleeds into the paper. Look at how the ink pools and thins in the upstrokes and downstrokes, so calligraphic! It reminds me of the way some painters use thin glazes to build up depth and texture. There’s also a certain beauty in the ephemerality of a postcard. It’s a snapshot of a moment in time, a fleeting connection between two people, captured in ink on a small piece of cardboard. It also reminds me of the kinds of exchanges that artists had in the early twentieth century, kind of like how artists share and steal ideas from each other today. It's a reminder that art is always in conversation with itself, constantly evolving and changing.