Ontwerp voor raam in het Stadhuis in Amsterdam c. 1868 - 1938

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this design for a window in Amsterdam’s Town Hall using crayon and charcoal. There’s a real sense of process here, you can see Holst working through the composition, building it up piece by piece, with a clear sense of the materiality of the medium itself. It’s like he's thinking out loud, using the surface as a space for exploration. The colours are muted, earthy tones, and the lines are thick and deliberate. This adds to the sense of weightiness and solidity, which is interesting considering it was designed for a stained glass window. It’s as if the artist is deliberately contrasting the lightness and transparency of glass with the heaviness and opacity of crayon and charcoal. Look at the net in the foreground, you can almost feel the weight of it, pulling the fishermen down into the waves. It reminds me a little of Paula Modersohn-Becker's work, with its emphasis on form and its earthy palette. Ultimately this piece is a testament to the idea that art is an ongoing conversation, and that there’s always more to discover if you keep looking.