Brief aan Filippo Tessaro Possibly 1887 - 1889

Curator: This drawing, believed to have been created between 1887 and 1889, is entitled "Brief aan Filippo Tessaro." It is the work of Herman Johannes Aloysius Maria Schaepman. Editor: My first impression? Intimate. It feels like discovering a secret missive, penned with delicate, flowing ink. You can almost sense the hand that wrote it. Curator: It's fascinating how Schaepman chose the media – a simple pen and ink on paper. The ready availability of such materials suggests a democratisation of the creative process, breaking down barriers. This wasn't a commissioned masterpiece; it was a personal communication. Editor: I love the idea of access. Of the artwork, like poetry, finding its way onto anything, anytime. See how the text almost dances on the page! It's not just information; it's expression. You sense a relationship to the material. Curator: And it tells us something about networks of exchange. The letter itself suggests a level of literacy and communication within a particular social group. The very act of writing, delivering, receiving, represents labour, materiality, consumption. Editor: Definitely! It makes you consider the effort behind writing. Today, a message disappears into cyberspace; this has a weight, a tangibility. There is time to contemplate what someone writes. I see the fragility, too. Think of all that time lost. The passion that fades. I imagine this was sent, a gesture of a hand on a shoulder. But now it's something quite, quite other. Curator: Agreed. The constraints, then, paradoxically provided a fertile ground for artistic creation. Editor: It seems even a note dashed off in pen and ink can offer glimpses into lost connections, long dead thoughts. Amazing how potent they become. Curator: Yes, exactly that: from material simplicity emerges something rather meaningful and valuable now.