Standing Female Nude 1875 - 1934

This is a pen drawing by Isaac Israels, now at the Rijksmuseum, and the title calls it “Standing Female Nude,” but the figure is very clearly reclining. It is what it is. Look at the economy of the line, how quick it is. I bet Israels was standing, too, when he made it. His body in motion. The marks sort of slash into the paper. Notice how the lines don’t just describe the figure, they create shadow and volume. It's like he's trying to build a sculpture with just a pen. I can imagine him, quickly trying to capture this nude figure in front of him. Was she about to move? Was the light changing? You can almost feel the urgency, that IS the feeling. It reminds me of other artists, like Matisse, who used line to get at something essential, like drawing with scissors in the air. We're all just borrowing from each other, you know, trying to figure this stuff out together, across time.