Studieblad met vrouwen c. 1915s - 1925s

Curator: Isaac Israels created this piece, "Studieblad met vrouwen," sometime between 1915 and 1925. It's currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Looking at this pen and ink drawing on paper, what stands out to you? Editor: The frenetic energy! It feels like a flurry of moments captured, a private glance into a sketchpad rather than a finished artwork. Curator: That’s a keen observation. Israels, associated with Impressionism, often captured fleeting moments, and this piece does reflect that well. This drawing feels like he was trying to get a feel for the women, perhaps observing their carriage and interaction? We need to consider Israels’s background—his involvement in portraying women within specific societal strata. How are they positioned in relation to the viewer? Is he reinforcing a traditional dynamic? Editor: It feels more immediate, almost dreamlike. Note the hats and the dresses that appear rather stiff—elements that resonate with earlier portrayals, a signifier of status, though the impressionistic lines disrupt a simple class reading. The sketchiness prevents the forms from solidifying, lending the women a transitory, almost ephemeral quality. Is this the image of women or the image of women on the cusp of monumental societal transformation after the first world war? Curator: I think that’s right—Israels, by adopting a non-committal portrayal of each, might, here, be offering an artistic window onto new female identities. Perhaps Israels even intended to capture not definitive characterizations but, rather, a series of potential poses and styles of dress of new women negotiating inter-war norms and conventions. I also find the symbolic nature of the hat rather pertinent. The hat becomes here a motif symbolizing women adapting, not always easily, to new roles within the socio-political fabric. Editor: It seems that through the act of sketching he captured more than just appearances but rather a shifting psyche, a sense of women renegotiating their place within the post-war world through image. Curator: Precisely. By viewing it through both artistic choices and historical understanding, we start to unravel those cultural threads. Editor: A fascinating glimpse into a changing world.