Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1917

This postcard to Philip Zilcken was sent from Amsterdam by Adriaan Pit sometime in 1917. Can you imagine Pit, hunched over a desk, pen in hand, absorbed in the act of writing? The ink bleeds slightly into the paper, creating soft, blurred edges to each letter. The handwriting is tight and loopy, a dance of intention and spontaneity. I find myself wondering about the sender, Pit, and the recipient, Zilcken. Were they friends? Fellow artists? What was the nature of their exchange? The act of sending a postcard is so intimate, a small piece of oneself sent across a distance to connect with another. The smudged postal mark and faded stamp speak to the passage of time. This little piece of paper has traveled through the world, carrying its message across years and geographies. It's like a whispered secret, a fragment of a conversation that we are now privy to. The history of art is full of these intimate exchanges, artists speaking to one another across time and space. Each postcard, each painting, each gesture is part of a larger dialogue, a conversation that continues to unfold with each new mark.