Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 57 1875 - 1934

This chalk transfer drawing was made by Isaac Israels, though exactly when is unknown. It’s so delicate, you can barely see it, right? Looking at the image, I imagine Israels pressing a sheet of paper onto a chalk drawing, pulling it away, and what’s left is this ghostly echo. You can see these faint, blurry smudges of the original. I can picture him, can’t you, hovering over the image, unsure of how much pressure to apply. I bet he was thinking about all the unseen forces that shape how we perceive things. It reminds me of some of the early photography experiments where artists were trying to capture fleeting moments, or even thoughts. Israels is playing with absence and presence. And in doing so, he shows how all artists are in an ongoing conversation, exchanging ideas and inspiring one another's creativity across time.