Ontwerp voor raam in het Stadhuis in Amsterdam Possibly 1930 - 1934

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this design for a window in Amsterdam’s City Hall. It’s got this old-school feel, with a central figure who’s got a definite opinion, right? I get the feeling that Holst, while making this, was thinking about the weight of tradition, and also the weight of what a civic space is for: judgment, maybe, but also light? And maybe he wanted to let some light in—literally and figuratively. The colours are serious, greens and purples, but the design itself is trying to break out of the architecture. I imagine Holst looking at Gothic stained glass and thinking about how to bring that sense of awe into a modern context. You can see he’s not afraid to use heavy outlines, to make sure everyone gets the message. The guy in the middle is like, "Listen up!" He's part of a conversation with artists like Fernand Léger, who were also thinking about how to make art that speaks to a larger public.