Twee vrouwenhoofden 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing of two women’s heads with pencil on paper. Look at how Israels approaches the heads, searching for the form with these quick, repeated marks. You can really feel the energy and the speed of his hand moving across the page. The texture of the paper plays a huge role here, doesn’t it? The tooth of the page grabs at the pencil, creating a kind of roughness that makes the drawing feel so alive and immediate. See the way he’s built up the shading around the face on the left, how the lines almost vibrate? It’s like he’s trying to capture not just what they look like, but how they feel, their presence in that moment. It reminds me a little bit of Degas, his pastels, that same interest in capturing fleeting moments, the everyday. Ultimately, it’s not about perfection. It’s about the process, the searching, the feeling. And that’s what makes it so compelling.