Brief aan Jan Veth Possibly 1923 - 1929

Curator: This is "Brief aan Jan Veth" by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst, likely created sometime between 1923 and 1929. It's currently held at the Rijksmuseum. As you can see, the piece consists of pen and ink on paper. Editor: My first impression? It feels… intimate, like a stolen glimpse into a personal moment. It has a wonderful handmade quality to it. It’s small, domestic. I find it rather comforting. Curator: Yes, that sense of intimacy comes across strongly. The letter is, after all, a private correspondence, now on public display. Roland Holst adopts an Intimist style in his drawing, offering a rare, candid glimpse of someone significant in his life, maybe Jan Veth himself? The paper itself seems aged, bearing the traces of its production. The handwriting is faint in places, contributing to the delicacy and the aged mood of the piece. Editor: Looking closer, the material itself—the ink, the paper—speaks volumes about the period and Roland Holst's creative choices. Was this commonplace materials, or carefully selected, imported stock? This penmanship itself required skill and, what was the value then placed on handwriting, on receiving personal letters at the time this was produced? The materiality infuses it with history. Curator: That's an excellent point. Roland Holst worked a lot with social and political themes in his wider body of work and his medium often complimented his subject matter, and the intended receiver. But the letter seems to have transcended its immediate purpose of communication to become an artifact—a testimony of intimate relations and to the cultural values associated with writing letters in the 1920's. I also imagine there are things only the recipient would have understood about what the artist alludes to here... Editor: Exactly. We look at the aesthetic qualities but in a way it’s a piece produced using accessible and functional materials, like labor, penmanship, or the sending or receiving of personal correspondence might be more accessible concepts too. Curator: Absolutely. Its quiet beauty whispers of something bigger. Thank you, this has provided for me too some renewed insights into an artwork I had studied before. Editor: Indeed, it is more than just ink on paper, and I hope the audience enjoys this snapshot of a person’s private inner life made tangible.