Brief aan Jan Veth 1878 - 1925

This is 'Brief aan Jan Veth' by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst, made with ink on paper. The marks feel so intimate, don't they? You can see the pressure of the pen, the way the artist looped around some of the letters, almost like he was thinking aloud as he wrote. It reminds me that art is a process, a way of figuring things out rather than just stating something. Look at the physicality of the ink on the page. It’s thin in some places, pooling slightly in others, giving the words a kind of texture. See how some words are underlined, emphasized, like a little dance across the surface. Those little gestures and marks, they're not just about conveying information but about sharing a feeling, a moment. I think of Cy Twombly when I see this kind of thing; there is a real sense of mark making and an interest in the beauty of the written word, even when the content is not clear. Art isn't about fixed meanings; it's about the ongoing conversation between the artist, the work, and us.