Staande vrouw met hoed 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, Standing Woman with Hat, with pencil on paper. It is held at the Rijksmuseum. Look at how these soft pencil lines suggest the form of a standing woman, her face almost like a scribble and her hat more clearly defined by denser lines. I can imagine Israels quickly capturing the essence of his subject. What was he thinking as he put down these marks? Was he concerned with capturing her likeness, or was he interested in something else, like the light falling on her form? Israels's marks give us a feeling, a quick gesture that evokes more than just a representational drawing. This drawing reminds me that art is an ongoing conversation across time, and that artists are constantly inspiring one another’s creativity. Perhaps his drawing could be the start of a painting, or maybe a painting is really just a kind of drawing. Anyway, it is a form of embodied expression that embraces ambiguity, inviting us to participate in the experience of seeing and interpreting the world through the artist’s eyes.