Brief aan Pieter Haverkorn van Rijsewijk Possibly 1902 - 1924

This letter to Pieter Haverkorn van Rijsewijk was composed in 1902 by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst using pen and ink. The ink has a kind of flow to it, like watercolor almost, a delicate quality, though the strokes themselves are bold and purposeful. Look closely, and you can see the way the ink pools in certain spots, a kind of shadow, like it’s aged into the paper. The paper itself has taken on a cream tone, but there are darker spots, stains maybe, as if it has absorbed some of the life it has witnessed. It’s easy to imagine Holst sitting down and carefully forming each letter, knowing that his words are going to become a physical thing, a thing that will be held and unfolded and read. It puts me in mind of other artists who have explored the act of writing, like Cy Twombly, and his swooping, expressive script, where the meaning is conveyed as much through the gesture as it is through the words themselves. Art is about making marks, whether with paint, ink, or language.