Vrouw met kind op schoot 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this sketch of a woman and child with graphite on paper. I can imagine him, maybe on a train, quickly trying to capture the tenderness of that moment. Look at those marks. They are almost like musical notations. The diagonal hatching that models the form of her face, the single lines which confidently define the hat. The scribbled energy which make up the infant, a blur of warmth and comfort. He wants to say something about light and the fleeting beauty of the everyday. I suppose Israels was trying to achieve something similar to what Edgar Degas was trying to do. Both painters were interested in depicting modern life, capturing informal moments. Although Degas tended to focus on scenes of dancers and bathers, while Israels often depicted working-class people and urban scenes. Maybe they had a conversation about it over coffee? We artists, we are always talking to each other!