Gezicht van een vrouw c. 1886 - 1903

Isaac Israels made this drawing of a woman's face, date unknown, with graphite on paper. It seems like a fleeting impression, almost as though it's been glimpsed from a moving train. Israels was a Dutch painter who worked across Europe, particularly in Paris and London, at a time of great social change. His work often captured the everyday lives of ordinary people, and particularly women. He was part of a generation of artists who were reacting against the established art institutions, which had been dominated by academic styles and historical subjects. These artists sought a new way to represent modern life, embracing the gritty realities of urban existence. Israels's work provides a valuable record of the changing roles and experiences of women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By looking into sources such as letters and diaries, exhibition reviews, and sales records, historians help us understand the social and institutional contexts in which the drawing was made, what it meant to the artist, and how it might have been viewed by audiences at the time.