Vrouwenhoofd 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels created this sketch of a woman’s head with pencil on paper. Imagine him quickly capturing the sitter in just a few strokes. It’s all about speed and efficiency here. Notice how the head emerges from the blank paper through a flurry of light, quick marks. A mass of layered, light marks indicates the body of the woman, and the artist uses contour lines to capture the shape of her face. Israels is not interested in details, but only in capturing the fleeting essence of the figure. I wonder what she was thinking about in that moment. Was she looking into the distance, lost in her own thoughts? Israels was part of a group of painters called the Amsterdam Impressionists, who were inspired by the French painter Édouard Manet. You can see his influence here in this sketch, where capturing a feeling is more important than objective accuracy. Just as Manet influenced Israels, so too we can be inspired by their conversation across time and space.