Prentbiefkaart aan A. van der Boom Possibly 1932

This is a postcard to A. van der Boom, written in 1931 by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst, look at the hand-written script. You can tell Holst wasn’t trying to make a perfect calligraphic statement; it’s more like a casual, everyday process, full of personal expression. The texture of the paper is evident; you can almost feel the slight roughness and see how the ink bleeds a tiny bit into the fibers. I love how the color of the ink is faded. The writing isn't about legibility. There's a rhythm to the loops and lines, a dance across the surface, like notes in a musical score. Look at how the letters sometimes bunch together, and then spread apart. There's a sense of urgency, a feeling of thoughts tumbling onto the page. Thinking about Holst, I’m reminded of Cy Twombly, another artist who understood the power of the scrawled line. But where Twombly is expansive, Holst feels intimate, like a whispered secret. Art isn’t about perfection; it's about expression.