Bovenlichaam van een man met gebalde vuist c. 1878 - 1938

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this drawing of a man's torso and clenched fist with graphite on paper. I love the quiet agitation in this drawing. The smudgy application of the graphite reminds us that looking can be an act of feeling out an image over time. The artist's marks are pretty evident: the soft hatching of the vest, the way he layers the graphite to build up the shadow, and that fist. It’s this focal point, the clenched fist, that really activates the piece. Look at the shading around the fingers, how Holst teases out the form with tight, almost frantic lines. It’s as if he's digging into the paper itself. There's an emotional intensity in this drawing, recalling the social realism of someone like Käthe Kollwitz. Ultimately, Holst reminds us that a drawing isn’t just an image, it's a record of a human being thinking, feeling, and working through an idea.