Staande figuur en een tubaspeler 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this charcoal sketch of a standing figure and a tuba player, and wow, what a flurry of lines. It's all about process here. The marks are so immediate, it's like we’re seeing the artist thinking, right there on the page. Check out the way the lines swarm around the tuba player, especially where the instrument would be. It's a tangle of energy, a real contrast to the more solid, if you can call it that, figure above. You can almost hear the oompah of the tuba just by looking. This kind of quick, expressive mark-making reminds me of Daumier, another artist who wasn't afraid to leave the mess in. And it speaks to how art isn't about getting it "right" but about finding something interesting in the doing. It’s a conversation, a back-and-forth, more questions than answers.