Studie, mogelijk een kat op de trap voor een deur 1875 - 1934

This work by Isaac Israels is a pencil sketch, a quick impression of a cat, maybe, on some steps. I imagine Israels rapidly capturing the scene, trying to pin down the fleeting presence of the animal with a few lines. Look at the way he suggests form with shadow, almost scribbling in the darker areas to give depth to the doorway and steps. It’s so sparse, so economical. You can feel him thinking, what does the bare minimum I need to do to suggest this moment? There's a lovely open-endedness to this kind of work, a sense of possibility. It reminds me of other painters who use drawing to find their way into a subject, like Degas with his dancers or Philip Guston's late drawings. It’s a reminder that even in the most fleeting of sketches, there’s a conversation happening between artists across time, each one inspiring the next to see the world in a new way.