Abklatsch van de krijttekening op blad 3 verso c. 1890 - 1920

Isaac Israels made this drawing on paper, and the title tells us it's a copy of a chalk drawing. It’s pale, subtle, and almost ghost-like. I can imagine Israels hunched over his work, the chalk dust swirling around him as he tries to capture… something. What was he thinking when he made this? Was he trying to understand the original artist's intent, or was he simply trying to learn from their technique? Was it a chore? Or was it a joy? The faint lines are delicate, almost tentative. They remind me of a whisper, a secret shared between the artist and the paper. Israels, like many artists, was in conversation with the work of others, echoing and reinterpreting what came before. We artists are always looking, borrowing, stealing, and transforming. We can never know exactly what we’re doing or what it will become, but it’s through this process of inquiry that new possibilities emerge.