Vrouw met een hand in haar zij c. 1890 - 1920

Isaac Israels made this drawing of a woman, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, using what looks like charcoal on paper. It's so immediate, you know? You can almost see him circling the model, rapidly capturing her pose from all angles, figuring out how to commit her likeness to paper. I bet he was trying to catch a fleeting impression, a momentary truth. I wonder what she was thinking? Was she bored, or lost in thought? Look at the boldness of the marks – thick, dark lines carving out her form from the negative space, and then the light dusting of gray that creates volume. See how the slanting lines suggest the angle of her body? It's a shorthand, right? But it tells you everything you need to know. You get such a sense of Israels' own physical engagement, the energy of his hand moving across the page. It reminds me of other drawings by artists like Degas and Manet. Artists are always riffing off each other like that. It’s all part of an ongoing conversation. For me, the beauty of drawing lies in its openness, its willingness to embrace uncertainty.