Toeschouwers bij een danseres 1921 - 1922

Isaac Israels made this sketch of spectators watching a dancer with a pencil on paper in the late 19th or early 20th century in the Netherlands. Here, Israels is concerned with modern life and leisure, turning his attention to entertainment as a popular spectacle, as he also did in his paintings of circus and theatre scenes. The quick, loose strokes of the pencil suggest movement and a sense of immediacy, capturing a fleeting moment in time. The faceless crowd of onlookers, arranged in tiers, are passively consuming the performance. The focus on the audience, rather than the dancer, implies a critique of the social structures surrounding artistic performances at the time. To understand the social dynamics of the Netherlands at this time, research into archives of popular culture is required. Here we can examine images of the entertainment industry and study the social commentary of the era.