Staande vrouw, op de rug gezien 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing of a standing woman, seen from the back, with graphite on paper. It's all about the quick and dirty—the immediacy of the moment. He’s not trying to capture every detail but instead, the overall impression. Look at the way he uses line—thin, tentative, almost like he's feeling his way around the form. You can almost see him thinking, adjusting, erasing. The texture of the paper comes through, adding another layer of visual interest. It’s not just about what’s drawn, but how it’s drawn, the whole process laid bare. There’s a real sense of spontaneity here, the kind of thing you get when an artist is really in tune with their subject. It reminds me a bit of Degas, that same interest in capturing fleeting moments, the everyday, the unposed. Art is a conversation, right? We’re all just riffing off each other, trying to make sense of the world in our own way.