Figuren op straat, bij regen c. 1886 - 1934

This is a charcoal drawing of figures in the street, by Isaac Israels. Look at the way the charcoal is applied, kind of rubbed and smudged into the paper; you can see the ghost of the making, the physical process by which it came to be. See that dark mass, it almost feels like a Rorschach blot, right? But it is figures in the rain, or so we are told. Israels doesn't conceal the medium, he doesn’t want you to think you are looking through a window onto real life. Instead, it’s like he’s saying, hey, look at this charcoal, look at what it can do! The way it clumps and disperses. The long marks at the top right feel so gestural, but become, in their own way, the rain itself. It reminds me a little of Cy Twombly’s more chaotic drawings. There is an honesty to the process. It’s a conversation.