Standing Female Nude c. 1915s - 1925s

Isaac Israels made this nude drawing sometime in his life, probably with a graphite stick. The artist has taken a no-nonsense approach here, all about gesture and trying to capture a sense of line, balance and form. It's so immediate, isn't it? Look at how the artist built up the face with these scribbly lines. These marks, full of energy, show how a quick series of decisions can make something beautiful. It is such an economy of line. I always think of Cy Twombly, whose drawings have a similarly raw, unfinished quality. You can really feel the presence of the artist in the moment, trying to get something down quickly, trying to get it right. Israels wants to show us something about the female form, but I think he's also having a quiet conversation about drawing itself. It is like a question, and not an answer.