Brief aan A. van der Boom Possibly 1930 - 1938

This letter, penned by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst in 1930, is a flurry of cursive marks on paper. I can almost picture him hunched over his desk, the nib of his pen scratching across the page, lost in thought as the words take shape. The ink is this moody gray that gives the whole thing a somber tone. It reminds me of Cy Twombly, who also knew a thing or two about the power of the handwritten mark. Each stroke is like a little dance, a tiny performance. I wonder if Holst paused, mid-sentence, searching for the right word or phrase to capture his meaning? Did he cross things out, or was he one of those writers who just let it flow? Looking at the letter, I can't help but think about all the artists who came before and after Holst, each one adding their voice to this ongoing conversation. It’s this beautiful, messy, never-ending exchange of ideas. You get the sense that, for him, writing was a form of embodied expression, a way of working through ideas and emotions with all the ambiguity and uncertainty that comes with being human.