Vrouwenhoofd 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this head of a woman probably with ink on paper. It has this immediate quality, like a fleeting thought captured on the page. I can almost see Israels sketching, his hand moving quickly, trying to capture something ephemeral about his sitter. It's all about the gesture, the line quality—thick, thin, dark, light—the way the ink bleeds into the paper. Look how the looping strokes create the impression of curls, the darker marks give depth to the sitter's gaze, and the hatching suggests shadow and volume. You know? It’s a dance between observation and expression. Israels was part of a generation of painters, constantly looking at each other's work and pushing the boundaries of representation. His work makes me think about all the different ways painters have tried to capture the human form, from the highly detailed to the barely there. We are all just trying to get at something true and fleeting.