Zittende vrouw met hoofdtooi

Isaac Israels made this drawing, Zittende vrouw met hoofdtooi, with pencil on paper. It’s like a quicksilver thought, isn't it? You can sense the artist figuring out the form, going over the lines, trying to get a sense of the sitter. Look at how Israels uses shading to give weight to the figure’s clothing, while the lines describing the face are light, almost tentative. I love how a few dark strokes suggest the folds in the fabric; it is like the essence of fabric, not a representation, but an interpretation. It reminds me of drawings by Degas, where the process is so visible; you can almost see him circling around the figure, trying to capture the right pose. And that's what art is, isn't it? An ongoing dialogue, a conversation across time.