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

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this design for a window in the Dom of Utrecht using chalk and graphite, but it's the graphic lines that really grab me. The artist is clearly thinking about how to translate his image into stained glass, breaking everything down into segments with these heavy black lines. There's something about the materiality of the chalk and graphite here, the way they smudge and blend, that feels really immediate and process-oriented. Take a look at the beard. See how the lines curve and overlap, giving it a sense of depth and movement? It's like he's wrestling with the material, trying to find the right balance between representation and abstraction. You can see some echoes of artists like Fernand Léger in the simplified forms and architectural structure. Ultimately, though, this piece reminds us that art is all about translation, an ongoing conversation between artists and materials.