Prentbriefkaart aan Marisa Quanjer Possibly 1937

This postcard was written to Marisa Quanjer in Amsterdam, back in July 1937. It's covered in handwriting, a beautiful, confident script in dark ink. Look closely at the shapes of the letters, how they swoop and dive. The pressure of the pen on the paper varies, creating a rhythm of thick and thin lines. It feels like the writing itself is a kind of drawing, a fluid, expressive gesture. You get the sense that the writer, Roland Holst, wasn't just conveying information; he was also enjoying the act of writing, savoring the feel of the pen in his hand. There's a real joy in the process. Holst was part of the Dutch Symbolist movement. Think of Odilon Redon, another artist who saw art as a way to explore inner states of mind. Holst once said: "Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it." It’s a perfect description of art as an ongoing conversation.