Portret van Henriëtte Roland Holst-van der Schalk, zittend bij een voorstelling met twee meisjes 1878 - 1938

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this portrait of Henriëtte Roland Holst-van der Schalk with pencil on paper. It's a drawing, so the approach to mark-making is all about line, right? And how those lines describe form and space. I love the way the artist has used varying pressure to create depth and shadow. Look at the way the lines thicken around the folds of her dress, compared to the more delicate strokes that define her face. The texture of the paper is also important here. You can see how the tooth of the paper grabs the pencil, creating a slightly broken, uneven line. It's not about a smooth, continuous line, but about the push and pull between the artist, the tool, and the surface. The way that her hands are drawn, one curled above the other, is really lovely. It reminds me of some of the drawings of Paula Modersohn-Becker, in the way it combines a sense of realism with a kind of quiet, interiority. Ultimately, art is about exchange. It's never really finished, just part of an ongoing conversation.