Briefkaart aan Joop Sjollema before 1938

Editor: We’re looking at “Briefkaart aan Joop Sjollema,” which translates to "Postcard to Joop Sjollema," attributed to Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst, created before 1938, and residing in the Rijksmuseum. It's ink on paper. My first impression is how the handwriting creates a really interesting visual texture across the card's surface. What do you see in this piece from a formalist perspective? Curator: The focus is drawn to the contrasting elements. The geometric stamp and blocky printed text are starkly offset by the cursive script. This immediately creates a tension in the visual field, highlighting the different methods of communication and mark-making employed. The placement of the stamp, slightly askew, disrupts an otherwise regimented composition. Editor: So, it’s the visual push-and-pull between these elements that you find most interesting? Curator: Precisely. Notice also the relationship between the printed and handwritten words. One communicates efficiency and commerce; the other, intimacy and personal expression. Consider how the directionality of the handwriting leads the eye diagonally across the composition. What compositional techniques can you identify? Editor: The eye does travel across the card following the handwriting… there’s also the line underneath ‘Amsterdam’ which provides an anchor, and a sense of grounding. Is there something to read into in the type of script the artist is employing here? Curator: The loop and flourishes might speak to Roland Holst’s artistry, the careful arrangement suggests he saw beauty not just in the message but in the medium itself. A simple greeting transforms into a visual poem through its composition. It makes you ponder the visual language of everyday communication. Editor: I never thought about a postcard in terms of composition before. It highlights that even the mundane can have a formal elegance. Curator: And hopefully reveals how analysing structural components exposes profound artistic intentionality.