Brief aan Jan Veth c. 1901

Jacoba Cornelia Jolles-Singels wrote this letter to Jan Veth in 1901, and it's an artwork in itself, isn't it? Look at the looping of the ‘J’ in January, the way it becomes a frame for the words that follow; these marks create a rhythm, a cadence, which makes you want to sing it. It's like watching someone dance with a pen. The texture of the paper, you can almost feel it, slightly rough, absorbing the ink. The color is faded, aged, like an old photograph, or an old memory. The way the writing bunches in the middle then tapers at the end, feels like it has a kind of structure, almost like a landscape. There's something so intimate about handwriting, isn’t there? It’s a record of someone’s presence, their thoughts flowing directly from brain to paper. It reminds me of the drawings of Cy Twombly, they share that sense of immediacy and gesture. Art isn’t just about what you say, but how you say it, the marks you leave behind, the energy you put into the world.