Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 13 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this transfer of a chalk drawing on paper, and it's a perfect example of how something simple can be so evocative. Look closely and you will see these crumbly marks, built up from what looks like soft chalk, so smudgy and gentle. It’s kind of like a whisper on the page. The marks sit on the surface; they remind you that the image is made of dust, a residue of a past action. I find it hard to tell exactly what is represented, and I think that is the point. It is as though Israels is interested in the ghost of an image. There's a particular spot, just left of center, where the chalk seems a little denser, almost like the memory of a form emerging. Israels, like Whistler, was an artist who looked to capture fleeting moments from modern life. In his search for something genuine, he reminds us that artmaking is a conversation, a delicate dance between intention and accident.