Seated Female Nude 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels drew this 'Seated Female Nude', sometime in his career, with pencil on paper. Just look at the confidence of those lines, so economical! I imagine him quickly sketching, trying to capture the essence of the figure with the least possible marks, figuring out the tilt of the head and the way the light falls. It must have been quite intimate, artist and model working together. Israels was part of a generation of artists who were really thinking about how to depict modern life, and his nudes are a reflection of that. He's not trying to idealize the figure, but he's trying to capture a sense of naturalness and ease. The way he uses line is so expressive, it reminds me a little of Degas. It's like he’s speaking through the drawing, having a conversation with the model, with art history, with himself. And now, with us.