Abklatsch van de krijttekening op blad 5 recto 1887 - 1934

This offset chalk drawing by Isaac Israels is at the Rijksmuseum; the result of a process, an action. You can feel it in the smudged marks that give us a figure, but in reverse, like a ghostly twin. It’s like he made the drawing and then, boom, printed it right away, capturing that immediate energy. I love how you can almost see the pressure he used, the way the chalk sticks in some spots and fades in others. It’s not about perfection, but about the trace of a moment. Look at the way the form dissolves towards the top, turning into a haze. That’s where the paper probably didn’t quite meet, or maybe he lifted it a bit. It reminds me of Degas’ monotypes, where he was all about capturing the fleeting and the accidental. It’s that kind of messy, human touch that makes art so alive, right? It's a peek into the studio, into the artist's experiment.