Figuurstudies, mogelijk van vrouwen 1875 - 1934

Curator: Here we have "Figuurstudies, mogelijk van vrouwen" or "Figure Studies, Possibly of Women," attributed to Isaac Israels and thought to have been made between 1875 and 1934. Editor: It strikes me as incredibly fleeting, almost like a captured thought vanishing as soon as it appears on the page. A series of quick sketches, full of pentimento and unresolved shapes, creating an interesting balance on a square surface. Curator: Precisely. Notice how the medium – pencil and ink on paper – lends itself perfectly to this sense of immediacy. The lines are raw, energetic. It seems a private glimpse into the artist’s process. And how do these abstracted figures communicate with you? Editor: Beyond a hint of the feminine implied in the title, the iconography is almost non-existent. I find myself trying to decode each curve and stroke – a tilt of the head, a draped fabric maybe, yet ultimately settling in abstraction. There’s an underlying restlessness, I feel, a desire to catch something ephemeral before it escapes. Curator: Indeed, but even in their incomplete state, they suggest so much about the act of seeing and representing. See the way Israels manipulates line weight. The application varies from the almost violently assertive, thick contour to an achingly delicate barely-there line, all sharing space, delineating volume, suggesting depth. What does the collection of symbols signify in terms of form? Editor: These ghostly suggestions also tell a story about womanhood through history. Are these suggestions enough for contemporary audiences? There is the hint of Impressionism in their ethereality, but ultimately it exists outside the boundaries. I imagine some would wonder, ‘why show this piece’? Curator: Perhaps that tension – between recognition and dissolution – is exactly what makes it so compelling. We see the artist wrestling with form, grappling with perception itself, each attempt a layering and building toward something that’s neither fully there, nor absent. Editor: In short, more than a sketch it’s a palimpsest. I now notice several attempts on the figures below, giving new light on its title of possibly women. The pentimento shows the artist has evolved what to portray during its inception. Curator: Yes, indeed. This gives form to feeling as you might describe it.