Man 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, called 'Man', at an unknown date, probably using graphite on paper. What I love here is the economy of line, how few marks it takes to suggest a figure, and how much ambiguity remains! You get the sense that the image has come into being through a process of trial and error, where the artist has shifted and adjusted the lines until they feel just right. I feel a kind of kinship with Israels here. I can almost imagine him making this drawing, sitting in a cafe, quickly sketching the people around him with deft, economical lines to capture the essence of a figure. What’s cool is that artists are always in dialogue with each other across time. Israels’s quick marks remind me of some of Matisse’s line drawings, while the unfinished quality chimes with work by artists like Guston. It’s all one big conversation! Painting is this embodied form of expression that embraces uncertainty, allowing for multiple readings that shift over time.