Stadsgezicht 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this city view in pencil, probably in a sketchbook. It’s all tentative lines and half-erased marks, like the city is still coming into being, a place of constant change. For me, art is always like that, a process of becoming. Look at how the lines are layered, scratching across each other, a real sense of searching for the right form. Nothing is too precious, there’s a willingness to get it wrong, and in that wrongness something new emerges. Notice the thick strokes bunched together near the top of the image, like a cluster of buildings, or maybe a bridge. Then there are the thinner lines that cascade down the page, are they rain, or the reflections of lights on the water? Israels reminds me a bit of James Ensor, in that he’s not trying to give us a perfect picture, but something more raw and alive. It's art as an open question, not a closed statement.