Staande vrouw met kind 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this sketch of a standing woman with a child out of graphite on paper. The marks are gestural and exploratory; the woman and child are only just appearing through the lines, which seem to map out the space they occupy in the artist’s mind. I like to imagine the artist’s own mind while he was working on this piece. Was he thinking about motherhood? About labour? What was the woman thinking, standing there holding a child, while Israels drew them? The materiality is light, minimal. The bare paper is almost as present as the drawing itself. It reminds me of other artists like Elizabeth Peyton, where the white space and the drawn line seem to merge. The act of drawing, like painting, can be an embodied expression. Here, it's as if Israels is in conversation with all the artists who work with the figure, from the Renaissance to now, each adding their voice to a sprawling, ongoing discussion.