Staande vrouw, in profiel 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels created this pencil sketch called 'Standing Woman, in Profile.' Look at the scratchy lines. I can imagine Israels in the moment, his eyes darting between his subject and the page, his hand trying to keep up. There’s a real immediacy here. You know, sometimes it’s not about perfection, but about capturing a feeling, a fleeting moment. The woman is formed through many lines suggesting that the painting came into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I wonder what Israels might have been thinking when he made it? He was a contemporary of the impressionists, so maybe this was his way of responding to the world. There is a kind of conversation happening between artists across time, and so many painters have drawn inspiration from each other, even if they didn't know it. Painting embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations. It’s a process of embodied expression, where meaning is always fluid and evolving.