Staande mannen en vrouwen, mogelijk bij een tribune 1875 - 1934

This sketch of standing men and women, possibly near a stand, was made by Isaac Israels, and looking at it, I imagine him sketching in real time, trying to capture all the details as quickly as possible. The marks are fleeting, fast, capturing the essence of a crowd. It’s exciting to think about how Israels looked at the world, how he internalized what he saw and then made marks on the page. The texture isn’t about thick impasto paint, it is more about the layering of marks, the way the charcoal or pencil creates a kind of fuzziness. There are so few colors, mostly neutral, with small pops of red, but the marks are so alive and quick that it feels as though the entire thing is buzzing with energy. It feels as if he’s in conversation with other artists like Degas, all trying to pin down what it means to represent modern life. I think that artists keep each other company across time, working through the same problems.