Figuren, mogelijk op het toneel 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, Figuren, mogelijk op het toneel, with pencil on paper. The marks are so quick, so light, and so full of air. Israels is sketching out people, maybe actors or performers, and there's this real sense of him capturing movement and form in the most economical way. I can almost feel him trying to nail down what he sees, shifting his perspective, circling around the essence of each figure. You can see where he’s gone over the lines again, searching for the form in front of him. It reminds me of other artists, like Degas, who were so interested in capturing fleeting moments of modern life, especially in theaters. They all wanted to capture the feeling of a living scene that’s always changing. You can almost imagine Israels sitting there, sketching rapidly, trying to keep up with the scene unfolding before him, just like how all artists are constantly responding to the world around them, borrowing, stealing, and riffing off of each other to make something new.