Brief aan Joop Sjollema Possibly 1937

Editor: This is "Brief aan Joop Sjollema," possibly from 1937, by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst. It's ink on paper, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It gives me the feeling of discovering a lost secret, written in beautiful and angular handwritings. What stands out to you as you look at it? Curator: Primarily, I observe the inherent materiality. We see the fibrous texture of the paper, interacting with the calligraphic strokes of ink. The composition follows a clear vertical orientation, shaped by lines and forms. Holst makes deliberate use of negative space; see how it both separates and connects blocks of text. The precise construction indicates careful structuring of visual information and the textural components. What sense do you get from the artist’s decision to lay out the forms this way? Editor: I imagine Holst chose this design to echo formal correspondence practices; it does look a lot like handwriting we see even today, from friends and family. Are you suggesting that it departs in some way from established epistolary norms of its era? Curator: Precisely. Considering Roland Holst's wider practice as a symbolist artist and designer, the lettering's structural elements become more prominent. We perceive the artist’s focus shifts towards a compositional play; each word functions as a component with its tonal character. So it becomes an orchestration of graphic forms. It transforms the ordinary function into something with greater texture and meaning, even outside the content of what the writer wrote. Editor: That’s a very fresh view! It makes you consider the drawing more than a simple document. Thanks, that helped me see it in an innovative way. Curator: My pleasure!