Buste van een vrouw met krullen c. 1915s - 1925s

Isaac Israels made this drawing, "Buste van een vrouw met krullen", with graphite on paper, and it feels like a burst of energy, doesn't it? The marks are so immediate. It’s like he’s thinking through the drawing, trying to capture a feeling more than a likeness. Look at how the lines defining the woman's face are so tentative, almost scribbled, while the background is filled with these decisive, shaded strokes. There’s a tension between what’s defined and what’s suggested, a process revealed. It reminds me a little of Daumier's drawings, where the immediacy of line conveys so much about the subject's character and the artist's own engagement. Art, like life, is full of starts and stops, revisions, and second guesses. This drawing embraces that, inviting us to see the beauty in the unfinished, the potential in the process. It's like Israels is saying, "Here's a glimpse, now imagine the rest."