Prentbriefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1913

This postcard to Philip Zilcken, was written by Etienne Dinet in 1913, and it’s so interesting how the personal and the formal collide in it. The handwriting, looping and generous, creates a kind of intimate texture, like a drawing in ink. Notice how the lines vary in pressure, sometimes thick and dark, sometimes fading to almost nothing, giving a real sense of the hand's movement. The controlled messiness of it all, feels very artful. I particularly love the way Dinet’s signature at the bottom right sort of explodes into a flourish. It’s like a final, confident gesture, a little performance in itself, which reminds me of Cy Twombly and his scribbled signatures. Art’s just one big conversation across time isn't it? We’re always answering each other, across decades, across centuries, with gestures and marks. There is no end point, only interpretation.