Gezicht 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels dashed off this drawing, Gezicht, with pencil on paper. It’s a sketch in the most beautifully reduced sense. Look at how few marks he needs to conjure a face. The beauty here is in the immediacy of the line. It feels like he’s trying to capture not just the appearance of a face, but more like the feeling of a face. The quality of the paper is so smooth, offering little resistance. The pencil is light and swift, almost a whisper. The line that defines the cheek curves with such assurance, while the marks for the eyes are scribbled and soft. It reminds me of some of Giacometti’s drawings; the kind of work that's all about seeing and feeling at the same time. Ultimately, it's this openness that makes the work so compelling. There’s no right way to see it. It remains gloriously unresolved.