Gebouwen, mogelijk winkelpuien 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, “Gebouwen, mogelijk winkelpuien”, with black chalk, and it lives at the Rijksmuseum. What I love about a drawing like this is how immediate it feels, like a thought caught on paper. The buildings, rendered with such speed and confidence, hover between representation and abstraction. It's like Israels is thinking out loud, working through the shapes and volumes of the architecture, not overly concerned with detail. Look at the way he builds up the tones with these short, scribbly marks. The density of the chalk creates a real sense of depth, especially in the darker areas. The texture of the paper, combined with the chalk, gives the surface a kind of gritty quality. It’s honest, unpretentious. You can almost feel his hand moving across the page. The lines are thick and thin, dark and light, all working together to create this dynamic composition. Israels reminds me of Manet, or maybe even Whistler, in his ability to capture the essence of a scene with such economy of means. Ultimately, it’s the ambiguity, the open-endedness of the drawing, that I find so compelling. It invites you to fill in the blanks, to engage with the work on your own terms.