Staande vrouwen 1875 - 1934

This is Isaac Israels' study of standing women, made with graphite on paper. Looking at this sketch, I imagine him with his stick of graphite, dancing around the page, trying to capture the essence of his subjects. I feel a real affinity for artists who study and make studies. Israels is just trying to figure something out. How do these figures stand? What do they look like from the side? The texture of the paper is visible beneath the quick marks, giving the drawing a sense of immediacy and intimacy. Israels uses thin, light lines to suggest the forms of the women, but he leaves much to the imagination. The way the figures are cropped makes me think of Degas' paintings of dancers, another artist who was interested in capturing fleeting moments. And that's what artmaking is all about - artists trying to figure things out and speaking to each other across time and space.