Reclining Female Nude c. 1915s - 1925s

This pencil drawing of a reclining nude by Isaac Israels feels so immediate, as though he captured her in a fleeting moment of repose. Imagine Israels with his sketchbook, quickly mapping out the shapes and shadows. You can almost feel the softness of the model's skin against the hard surface she reclines on. It's all about line and suggestion here, isn't it? See how Israels uses hatching to define the curves of her body? There’s something so intimate and vulnerable about a nude drawing. Israels treats his subject with such honesty. It reminds me of other artists like Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec, who also found beauty in the everyday. There is a conversation happening between artists across time; each one is trying to make sense of the world. The drawing feels like a form of embodied expression, a way of seeing and feeling that transcends words.