Vrouwenhoofd c. 1886 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, Vrouwenhoofd, with pencil, and what looks like a lot of erasure. I can imagine him, with this ghostly, grey image emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with Israels, with what it must have been like for him to focus intently on this woman's face. He's searching for the form of her head, her features, with the barest of lines. It's just enough to let us know she is there. It's just enough for us to sense her presence. Israels is playing with the visibility and invisibility. He is allowing the woman's face to appear and disappear, as if she were a memory, or a dream. I see drawing as a philosophical, playful, and reflective process. And I feel like Israels is playing with me here, teasing me with her partial form, her partial existence. But that is enough. And it sparks my imagination, in the same way that he must have been inspired to make this work in the first place. Artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity.