Rijtuigen op straat 1875 - 1934

Curator: Let's take a look at Isaac Israels’ drawing, "Rijtuigen op Straat," which roughly translates to Carriages on the Street. It was produced sometime between 1875 and 1934 and the Rijksmuseum houses this intriguing piece. Editor: My first thought is speed and motion! It feels like the artist caught a fleeting moment in charcoal, almost as if he barely had time to get the image down before the carriages rattled away. The heaviness of the mark making brings to mind the Industrial Revolution in full swing. Curator: Absolutely. Israels’ piece provides us with a tangible glimpse into urban life and transportation modes from that era, a fascinating insight into 19th-century cities. It’s executed using pencil, which gives it an immediate quality. It doesn't have the pretension that painting might embody and brings us closer to the subject itself. Editor: You’re right. There’s a raw energy about it that gets lost in overly-polished works. This piece embodies a simple truth. It is refreshing how unafraid the artist is when using such a direct approach. I wonder, could it also be seen as a reflection on labor—both that of the working class and the artist trying to document it? Curator: A plausible insight. He captured the everyday using minimal materials—simple graphite pencil, readily available paper, reflecting not only the technology but also, the increasing democratization of artmaking, that's fascinating. Editor: This brings me back to that initial sense of movement... Even today, don’t you find, there's something deeply poetic about that urban pulse captured with just a few strokes of the pencil? Curator: Undeniably so. It speaks volumes about the capacity of drawing to encapsulate the human experience within these changing urban spaces. Thanks to the artist, the humble graphite transcends, it enables not merely a view, but rather access to this cultural record in all its intricacy.