Twee staande figuren, mogelijk voor een coulisse c. 1915s - 1925s

This drawing was made by Isaac Israels, and features two standing figures sketched with graphite on paper. Imagine Israels rapidly sketching in a notebook; the lines are quick and expressive. The figures emerge from a dense, shadowy background, built up with diagonal strokes of graphite. It’s like he’s trying to capture a fleeting impression, a gesture, a moment in time. I wonder if these figures are dancers? The hatching and shading suggest a concern with light and form, but the looseness also hints at the artist’s interest in the immediacy of the sketch, where the act of drawing is as important as the final image. He’s part of a lineage of artists who embraced sketching as a way of seeing, thinking, and feeling. Like Degas or Daumier, he seems to be finding something new in the act of observation, a way of capturing the dynamism of modern life.