Brief aan Jan Veth 1865 - 1925

Curator: Looking at this piece, it’s quite different from what we usually exhibit. This is “Brief aan Jan Veth” by Jac van Looy, seemingly dating from 1865 to 1925. The medium includes pen and ink on paper. Editor: It looks like a casual sketch. It has a slightly chaotic but expressive vibe, don’t you think? You get the feeling that whoever made it really wanted to capture thoughts really quickly. Curator: Yes, precisely. Van Looy was certainly thinking of it more like a study, or an idea. If we consider how artists exchanged ideas at the time, letter writing itself was almost a precursor to current digital discourse. They were, in a way, publicly performing private thoughts. Editor: In this letter, there are mentions of money, a debt, but there’s also talk of the recipient keeping his “lesfel mental” and staying “mental glad” whatever that actually means. Also, there is mention about having not trusted someone “mees.” It suggests a degree of personal, even intimate correspondence. Curator: That’s a sharp observation. Knowing about Jan Veth's politics at the time adds another layer. It’s easy to consider it within broader narratives of artistic integrity and the complex social roles artists occupy. Van Looy’s handwriting has a quality all its own that one can see him using as a painter. Editor: It almost has the same form and composition as handwriting itself, which gives it this sense of rhythm. A political subtext adds some significant gravity to such an ostensibly modest letter, and it suggests so much about these figures within society at that time. It actually encourages us to reconsider historical dialogues about class. Curator: Absolutely, understanding art’s engagement with political issues reframes it within historical movements of self determination. In that, one is always able to come away learning something from artwork such as this. Editor: Yes, a short note ends up containing an interesting world of ideas, inviting so many considerations.