Briefkaart aan Willem Bogtman before 1928

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this postcard to Willem Bogtman with ink. Look at the cursive script, how the words gather, scatter, and dance across the page! You can imagine Holst's hand moving quickly, spontaneously, as he writes to his friend. He is both offhand and intimate, and the script itself has a kind of nervous energy. The lines vary in thickness, and the pressure changes, creating moments of dark emphasis. The pale cream background almost fades away, letting the black lines take centre stage. I imagine Holst pausing, mid-sentence, maybe looking out the window at the "Buissche Heide bij Zundert" he mentions at the bottom. What was he thinking? What was he feeling? It's a snapshot of a moment, a connection between two people. It is fleeting, fragile, and utterly charming. Like the best paintings, this little card is a trace of a human presence, a reminder of the messy, beautiful ways we communicate with one another.