Studie 1834 - 1911

Curator: Alright, let's dive into this drawing by Jozef Israëls, titled "Studie," dating roughly from 1834 to 1911, housed here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My first impression? It’s like finding a whisper of a memory on paper. So delicate. Almost invisible, like a half-formed thought escaping into the light. Curator: Exactly. Israëls employed pencil on paper, capturing what we see through just lines. This simplicity, this reduction, it draws attention to the basic act of mark-making. Considering its existence on paper—its production, its journey to us, the accessibility of such materials in comparison to painting. Editor: It's interesting to me, though. A bare, simple surface to catch a first idea... like jotting a tune onto any scrap of paper you could get your hands on. Are those horizon lines down at the bottom? Landscapes trying to materialize out of the whiteness? Curator: I agree that you see this kind of artistic exercise in it: Landscape could be a possible thematic exploration. But what fascinates me is its connection to his social environment and networks—the paper’s origin, the accessibility of the tool itself—how this contributes to democratizing art production. Editor: Ah, you’re right! Perhaps that openness, accessibility, led to his later, fuller explorations. A practice space of sorts. There's something comforting in seeing an artist's tentative beginnings like this, this first go, somehow gives me more hope that anyone can make it into what he was at the end of his life. Curator: Precisely! Thinking of artistic genius as something to demystify: We often ignore the materiality—the access, the process, the choices artists have to engage with in a very tangible form. Editor: Seeing this gives me the opposite impulse than what the polished product does. There’s no expectation—only invitation—here. And the bare-bones materials help. Now, I will look differently when seeing the other things this artist made. Curator: Ultimately, focusing on this art offers ways to engage deeply with what’s possible from everyday circumstances and access—Israëls made choices.