Studie 1921 - 1922

Isaac Israels made this pencil drawing, Studie, sometime between 1880 and 1934. The paper is almost as pale as the marks on it, so the artist must have been moving delicately, trying to capture something ephemeral, something he didn’t want to disturb. I feel like Israels is almost trying to find a way to gently sketch an atmosphere, an echo of a room. Is it a classroom? A meeting? He’s captured a crowd, so it must have been bustling, but he’s managed to find a still point amid the chaos. I can imagine him, pencil in hand, thinking about Degas, thinking about Manet, and trying to find a way to translate their methods into his own idiom. It's exciting to see him test out the principles of impressionism with such restraint. It's a reminder that even in the most fleeting of sketches, there is an artist's hand, an eye searching for form in a world of constant flux.