Figuurstudies c. 1915s - 1925s

Editor: This is Isaac Israels’ “Figuurstudies”, or "Figure Studies", made sometime between 1915 and 1925. It's a pencil and pen sketch on paper, and I’m struck by how raw and immediate it feels. What's your take? Curator: This drawing reveals Israels’ working process. Look at the swift, economical lines. They suggest a body being captured quickly, perhaps in motion. This emphasis on process—the act of drawing itself—becomes the artwork's primary focus. Editor: It seems almost unfinished, like a preliminary sketch. Is it meant to stand alone, or as a study for something else? Curator: Exactly. The question then becomes: Where does the value lie? In the final, polished product, or in the evidence of labor, the artist's hand? Israels challenges that distinction, elevating the sketch, with its inherent materiality, to a place of artistic importance. Consider how the availability and cost of paper and pencils during that period would influence artistic production and these fleeting moments of capturing human form. Editor: So, by displaying this “unfinished” sketch, he's drawing attention to the labor and materials involved in artmaking? Curator: Precisely. We're invited to consider the socio-economic context of artistic creation. How does access to materials, studio space, and even the model's time shape the artwork? It is not just the idea that matters, but also the material conditions that allowed that idea to materialize. Editor: That gives me a new way to look at what might seem like a simple sketch. It’s fascinating to think about the process and materials as central to the artwork’s meaning. Curator: And perhaps, a starting point to dismantle the conventional art narratives that glorify the final output without considering what truly goes into art production.