Studie 1875 - 1934

This drawing, Studie, was made by Isaac Israels. I like the scribble-scrabble quality of this drawing. It’s all movement, like watching someone think out loud. These kinds of marks are what I call a ‘gesture’, a spontaneous expression or movement, that is not just visual but physical. Imagine Israels with the pencil in hand, feeling his way into the subject with each line. It reminds me of Cy Twombly, except Twombly is more romantic. Israels is more edgy, anxious even. I can imagine Israels trying to find something in the tangle of lines, maybe a figure or a landscape, and then giving up, leaving it unresolved, a record of a fleeting moment. I’m always fascinated by what an artist chooses to show and what they choose to leave out. To me, this drawing is just so much about the potential of painting. It's the same conversation that artists have been having for centuries, each one adding their own little mark to the history of art.