Portret van een onbekende vrouw met loshangend haar c. 1890 - 1920

Isaac Israels made this charcoal drawing, “Portret van een onbekende vrouw met loshangend haar,” sometime in his career, now held at the Rijksmuseum. It presents an intimate, informal view of its subject, a style that aligned with the broader cultural shifts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where there was a growing interest in realism and everyday life. Israels, working in the Netherlands, was part of a generation of artists that challenged the more rigid academic traditions of the time. The loose, flowing lines and unfinished quality of the sketch suggest an interest in capturing a fleeting moment, rather than adhering to the traditional conventions of portraiture which prioritized formality and idealization. This approach can be linked to the rise of impressionism and post-impressionism and a more general shift towards valuing individual expression and subjective experience. The artwork is a reminder that the meaning of art is always intertwined with the social and institutional contexts in which it is created and received. To understand it better, we can delve into the archives of art schools and exhibition records of the time.