Twee figuren c. 1915s - 1925s

Isaac Israels made this drawing of two figures at an unknown date with pencil on paper. I love how you can see the evidence of its making. It's so raw and immediate. Look at the hatching, the way the lines build up to create tone and form, especially in the figures clustered together. It’s all about the rhythm of the hand, the pressure on the pencil, the speed of the gesture. It’s like Israels is thinking through drawing, figuring out the composition, the weight of the figures, right in front of us. There is one lighter area, a clear break in the pattern of marks, which appears to indicate one figure is leaning on another. Israels was a contemporary of Toulouse Lautrec, and you see something of that same interest in modern life, in capturing a fleeting moment with a few well-placed lines. It’s like a visual shorthand, an invitation to complete the picture in your own mind.