Vrouw met hoed, in profiel c. 1923 - 1934

Curator: This quick pencil sketch is entitled "Woman with a Hat, in Profile" by Isaac Israels, dating probably from around 1923 to 1934, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Well, my initial reaction is that it seems more like a suggestion of a portrait than a fully realized drawing. So spare. Almost ephemeral. Is it even finished? Curator: I think the sketchiness is key, isn't it? It reflects Israels’s interest in capturing fleeting moments, in finding the essence of a form. What seems unfinished to our eyes, accustomed to a high degree of finish, was often a deliberate choice. I can almost feel him capturing a pose with quick marks! Editor: Right, that gets to what fascinates me here – the labor involved, or rather, seemingly absent. Pencil sketches like these often functioned as studies for larger paintings, explorations of form. But did these preparatory steps receive their own kind of material consideration, their own value, especially since these have landed here in the Rijksmuseum? Or are we seeing, here, a capitalist class depiction, quick and easy as can be? Curator: It raises the question: when does a sketch become a work of art? I'd argue it's when it begins to communicate something beyond the purely representational. Here, it might be that delicate dance between presence and absence, the way the lines both define and dissolve the figure. The hat alone tells us that the person being sketched occupies a certain privileged background from that time, doesn’t it? Editor: But beyond the privileged moment being captured, what sort of access to materials and training enabled him to execute such quick and fluid lines? Pencil doesn’t grow on trees; and art like this ends up circulating and accrues capital from it. Think, for example, about the colonial enterprises necessary for graphite extraction at this time. These tools of his were hard-earned! Curator: That's an important layer, certainly. Looking closely, I feel that despite its minimalist nature, the portrait does radiate a kind of gentle elegance, perhaps even an introspection in the way the head is angled. Israels somehow imbued this simple form with dignity and maybe even with interiority, don’t you think? Editor: Hmm. Material conditions and quick pencil strokes, privilege on display in muted form. Food for thought indeed, even in its supposed sketchiness! Curator: Yes, a simple drawing becomes less so once you look more closely.