Briefkaart aan Willem Bogtman Possibly 1925 - 1927

This postcard to Willem Bogtman, was sent by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst, though it's undated, the stamp puts it around 1912. Look at how the pale support acts as a ground for dark, looping, looping calligraphy that makes me feel like I’m reading someone else's mail. It feels like an everyday practice, this writing of postcards, like Holst is just chatting to a friend. But even in that casual gesture, there's a painterly consideration of tone, mark-making and composition. I wonder if Holst was thinking about the conversation between color and form, as he wrote. There is a real intimacy in reading someone’s personal correspondence like this. Holst’s handwriting, with all of its swirls and flourishes, creates a rhythm all of its own. It makes me think about the ongoing dialogue between visual art and literature, and how artists borrow and rework ideas across different fields.