One of Original Inside Doors to Sacristy c. 1936

Geoffrey Holt made this drawing of a door to a sacristy with pencil on paper sometime in the 20th century. The creamy, neutral tone gives the impression of something functional, stripped back. It almost feels like an architectural plan, right? But look closer, and the rendering is much more expressive than that. The grain of the wood is depicted with these soft, almost smudged marks. The lines waver, they’re not mechanically precise, so they have a kind of vulnerable quality. The thinness of the pencil on paper and the way Holt captures the shadows and textures, evokes a sense of light and space. I'm drawn to that singular crack in the center panel. It's like a flaw that makes the whole thing real, a record of life and time. You can see connections to the drypoint etchings of Rembrandt, where the character and imperfections give the image its soul. It’s more about seeing the world with an open heart than getting everything exactly right.