Vrouwenhoofd 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, Vrouwenhoofd, and you can see how the image emerges as he’s working on it. See how the marks build up, layer by layer, to create a sense of depth and volume. You can feel him thinking and rethinking as he draws. What was he trying to capture? A likeness, an emotion, a fleeting expression? I wonder if he was hoping to catch her unaware, in a moment of quiet contemplation. I feel like it is an intimate drawing. There's a rawness to the sketchiness that I find really appealing. Israels’ swift, sure marks remind me of other artists who celebrate the immediacy of the drawn line, like Manet and Degas. Artists are always talking to each other, even across time, working through the same problems, finding new ways to see and express the world. And they leave breadcrumbs for us, hints of their process, so that we can follow along and get lost in the act of looking.