Staande figuur en een tubaspeler 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing of a standing figure and a tuba player, but I see more than that, I see an embrace. The piece has been built up through a process of layering. The linear marks have an improvisational quality – a lot of fast, gestural movements that almost capture a moment. I imagine the artist leaning over a piece of paper, charcoal in hand, trying to capture the essence of the scene before it disappears. I wonder what was going through their head and whether they felt excited. The marks overlap to create areas of density, as if the artist were thinking through line. The tuba is the heart of the work. It has a mass that's just a scribble, a series of interlocking shapes. Then there’s the figure, reclining slightly above, maybe a bit bored, waiting for their cue. I wonder whether Israels knew that he was contributing to the creative discourse of mark making and how the artists would look at his work a hundred years later.