Staande vrouw met hoed en cape, in profiel 1875 - 1934

This sketch, a standing woman with hat and cape, was made by Isaac Israels, but we don’t know when, or with what. You could say it was made with seeing, with the way he looked, but obviously a pencil or piece of charcoal was involved too. The lines are like thinking—searching, finding, and then losing their way. It's a restless process, a little nervous. See how the hat is a dark scribble, but it somehow manages to sit firmly on her head? Those dark marks are full of a life of their own. Then the long swooping lines of the cape, just barely suggesting form. This reminds me a little of Toulouse-Lautrec, but with a softer touch, a little more searching. It is like a page torn from a notebook, a moment captured, and then left to the wind. It's the art of suggestion, leaving room for our own imaginations to fill in the blanks. Art is an ongoing conversation, and each artist adds their own voice to the chorus.