Ontwerp voor raam in het Noordertransept in de Dom te Utrecht c. 1934

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this design for a stained-glass window using crayon, and it’s all about the push and pull of color. Look at how those marks lay next to each other, building forms, like a puzzle you want to touch. There’s a real tension in how Holst uses the crayon; you can see the texture of the paper coming through. The black lines, like lead in a window, trap reds and ochres, and even a bit of blue, giving the whole thing a somber, devotional feel. The crow in the corner, is it a symbol? The way its eye stares out at us makes me think of the Symbolists like Odilon Redon, who were also into dreams and hidden meanings. Ultimately, what I love about this piece is how it embraces ambiguity. Is it a window? Is it a symbol? It's probably both, and neither, resisting any single story.