Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1911 - 1912

This "Brief aan Philip Zilcken" was made by Jean-José Frappa in 1911, using ink on paper. The light paper has that fragile yellow tinge of age, and the blue ink is so alive. It looks as though the words have been set down in one breath. You can almost feel the nib scratching across the page. The artist's looped handwriting dances across the surface in a way that reminds me of Cy Twombly's scrawls. There is a nervous energy in that line, and I find myself thinking of this text not just as a note, but as a drawing, or a kind of performance. Look at the flourish of the signature at the bottom, the way the letters stretch and pull. It's like the artist is signing off with a grand gesture, a final bow. It reminds me that art is always a conversation, a back-and-forth between the artist and the world.