Drie studies van een vrouw 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made these three studies of a woman, with pencil, on paper. Israels is trying to catch something fleeting here, isn't he? A gesture, a pose, a feeling. You can tell he is working quickly, trying to pin down what's in front of him. There’s a looseness to the line, a real sketchiness, and you can see how he's building up the form with these confident, scribbled marks. I particularly like the figure in the top right, where he captures her weight with just a few lines. See how the shading underneath her suggests the softness of the surface she's lying on? It reminds me a bit of Degas, but with a more modern feel, maybe a touch of Toulouse-Lautrec. But really, Israels is doing his own thing here. And what I love about this work is how open it is. It’s not trying to be perfect, it's just trying to see.