Staande vrouwen, mogelijk variétéartiesten 1875 - 1934

Editor: Here we have Isaac Israels’ "Staande vrouwen, mogelijk vari\u00e9t\u00e9artiesten", dating sometime between 1875 and 1934. It's a pencil drawing held at the Rijksmuseum. The sketchiness really strikes me; it feels incredibly immediate and raw. What catches your eye when you look at this work? Curator: The very *rawness* you point out is key. Look at the application of the pencil - quick, repetitive strokes. This isn't about creating a finished, polished product, is it? This is about the *process* of seeing and recording. It reveals Israels' labor, his immediate interaction with the subject, hinting at the world of performance, where bodies are commodities in constant motion, reshaped by light, labor and desire. Editor: That makes sense. So, you see it as less about the *who* and more about the *how*? Curator: Exactly! Think about the context: late 19th, early 20th century. Mass entertainment is exploding. Israels is engaging with the performers' lives, their presentation and commodification as labor and the product for popular entertainment. These women are, literally, working bodies. What implications do you see in choosing such mundane materials as pencil and paper? Editor: Well, maybe the accessibility reflects the increasing accessibility of leisure and art itself to a broader public? It's democratic in a way. Curator: Precisely. The means of production, cheap and readily available, mirrors the democratization of art and entertainment, challenging traditional notions of "high" art, and opening the discourse to class dynamics. A very astute observation, indeed. Editor: This has made me rethink sketches and their role in highlighting production. Curator: And perhaps even inspiring some sketches of your own? Keep questioning those "unimportant" materials. They tell us more than we think.