Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 9 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this transfer drawing, called 'Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 9', with chalk, sometime between 1880 and 1934. It’s all about process, this one – the intimacy of a sketch, made more delicate by the transfer. I love how the smudgy charcoal gives it this ghostly presence. It’s like looking at a memory, a fleeting impression captured on paper. You can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the page, pressing the chalk, coaxing out the form. Look at the lines describing the subject, are they a bed, a bench? The chalk catches the light, creating a soft, velvety texture. There’s a real sense of immediacy to this piece, a feeling that we’re witnessing the artist’s thought process unfold before our eyes. It reminds me a little of Odilon Redon’s charcoal drawings, that same dreamlike quality, where figures emerge from a haze of shadow and light.