Brief aan Philip Zilcken en Henriette Wilhelmina van Baak Possibly 1927

This is 'Brief aan Philip Zilcken en Henriette Wilhelmina van Baak,' written in 1927 by Willem de Zwart. It’s a letter, a kind of drawing made with ink instead of paint, and it’s interesting to think about how something written can be just as expressive as something drawn or painted. Look at the way the ink sits on the page. It's not perfectly even; there's a slight variation in the darkness of the lines, the pressure of the pen, giving a sense of the artist's hand, the speed and rhythm of the writing. See how the loops and curves of the letters almost dance across the page? Each word is a gesture, a little performance. And the overall texture, the way the writing fills the space, it creates a visual rhythm. It reminds me a bit of Cy Twombly's scribbled paintings, where writing becomes image, and image becomes writing. Both artists seem to embrace the messiness and imperfection of the hand-made mark, inviting us to see the beauty in the everyday act of communication.