Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1901 - 1918

This postcard to Philip Zilcken is by Marie J. van der Weyde. It’s interesting to see the way that text becomes image, the loops and lines of handwriting morphing into marks that are as expressive as any brushstroke. Look at the way the ink is consistent, neither thick nor thin, but a steady stream across the page. The writing has a transparent quality and it's as if you can feel the weight of the sender's hand and mind. Think about how the dark cancellation mark contrasts with the flowing script, a smudge against the careful script. The artist is a kind of mail art ancestor, anticipating our current obsessions with surface and the intersection of language and meaning, it makes me think of Cy Twombly. Art is about embracing these ambiguities, isn't it?