Damesportret 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this portrait of a woman with ink on paper. Just imagine him, quickly laying down those lines. It's all done with such brevity, so matter of fact, like, *here she is*. The face is mostly hatching, but it also kind of models the volume, and the shapes of the shadows. Look at the economy of the marks; it's like, he knew exactly where to put each one, a gesture towards light and form. The direction of the strokes – how they curve around her cheek, or define the angle of her jaw – they tell you everything. What was he thinking when he made it? Maybe he was trying to capture something fleeting. It reminds me of other portraitists who are trying to get to something essential, something not entirely visible. And that's the thing about painting, isn't it? It's never really finished. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring one another's creativity, embracing ambiguity, leaving the door open for multiple interpretations.