Dansende vrouw en man c. 1886 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing of a dancing man and woman with graphite on paper. What a flurry of activity, these lines seem to be capturing a dance, or a dream, or a memory of a dance. I wonder what Israels was thinking, there in the moment of making this drawing. I love the thin and wispy quality of the lines, scratchy and light. You can almost feel him moving his hand quickly over the paper. The man is really flying across the page, while the woman seems more grounded, more present. Maybe she's the one leading the dance. Painters often use drawing to work out ideas, to capture the ephemeral and fleeting moments of life. I think we see him doing that here, grabbing a little bit of life as it dances right past him. We artists are always having a conversation, one with another, across time. It's like we're all in the same dance.