Kop van een man met snor, van opzij 1878 - 1938

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this head of a man with a mustache with graphite on paper. Although unassuming, drawing is fundamental to all visual art; it's immediate and direct. Here, you can see the hand of the artist, building up the image with myriad strokes. Holst was a master of graphic art, also working in woodcut and lithography. These are all essentially reproductive media; the image is multiplied by working it into a surface. In a way, the same is true of a drawing. It, too, is a kind of matrix. Holst coaxes a likeness out of the blank page. The tooth of the paper and the soft responsiveness of the graphite are essential to this process. Consider the subtle shading, the way the man's bald head emerges from the ground. Holst brings form into being through labor, and light, and shade. This is a relatively inexpensive way of creating an image, but not without its own artistry. Holst's drawing reminds us that all art is rooted in material practices, whatever form it takes.