Acrobaat op de schouders bij een fietsende man 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, Acrobaat op de schouders bij een fietsende man, with what looks like charcoal or pencil—maybe he was even working with both? There's something so playful about the precariousness of the acrobat balanced on the cyclist's shoulders. You can almost feel the wobble and teeter, and the pure joy of the circus act. I can imagine Israels capturing the kinetic energy of this balancing act, thinking about Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec’s fascination with scenes of modern life and popular entertainment. The marks are light, sketchy, and quick, but they convey so much—the weight of the figures, the movement of the bicycle, and the excitement of the performance. Israels is part of this ongoing artistic conversation where one image speaks to another across time, inspiring us to see the world anew.