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 charcoal. Look at how the marks build up to create the overall image. You can feel the artist feeling their way through the image, making decisions as they go. The texture here is gorgeous. The chalk is soft, almost powdery, while the charcoal lines are dark and decisive. The red areas feel intense, like hot coals, and are shaped by the dark, curving lines. These lines, like lead in a stained-glass window, have a life of their own. Notice how they swell and narrow, creating a rhythm that pulls your eye around the composition. In the bottom left, a dove is depicted, and the lines inside the dove are light and scribbly, giving it a sense of fragility. Holst’s design process reminds me a bit of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who also used bold lines and intense colors to convey strong emotions. It’s all about the conversation between artists, across time and space. This work is not just a design for a window; it’s a world of feeling captured on paper.