To stående modeller 1914 - 1915

This drawing, by Karl Isakson, captures two standing models with a few simple pencil lines. It’s intimate, like a glimpse into the artist’s studio. Imagine Isakson there, maybe figuring out what it means to see, to show, to depict the human form. Look at how the marks vary—some are bold and confident, defining the curve of a hip, while others are tentative, searching for the right contour. You can see erasures, shifts in the line, as though he's having a conversation with the paper. He seems to suggest a closeness between the models, who lean on one another. For me, it feels like Isakson is asking what can be left out but still communicate the body’s weight and presence? It's that tension—between what's there and what's not—that makes the drawing so alive. Artists build on one another, learn from and challenge each other. This drawing feels connected to a long history of artists grappling with the figure, with light, and with the very act of seeing.