Liggend vrouwelijk naakt, mogelijk slapend c. 1915s - 1925s

Curator: This is a captivating sketch from the Rijksmuseum, titled "Liggend vrouwelijk naakt, mogelijk slapend," or "Reclining Female Nude, Possibly Sleeping," by Isaac Israels, dating from somewhere around the 1915s to 1925s. Editor: It’s wispy, isn't it? Ethereal even. Like a ghost catching some much-needed rest. The pencil lines are so light; she almost floats on the page. Curator: Indeed, Israels captures a remarkable sense of ease and intimacy. I wonder what kind of pencil he favored for such light, almost shy, strokes. I imagine he made numerous versions before he settled on this one; looking at all the graphite remnants that build on each other it's clear how committed Israels was to studying how material shapes form. Editor: To think, someone posed, holding that position as he meticulously observed her form. Not as some detached specimen mind you! It has the air of a quick, secret glimpse – a lover sketching his beloved as she dreams. The barest bones of a portrait... a memory taking shape. Curator: I suspect this nude study was drawn within the confines of Israels’ own studio space—pencil drawings like this became less about formal commissions during his time and more so became tools to work out composition. It’s easy to imagine this very piece of paper moving with him, being folded or tacked onto various surfaces for convenient inspiration. The soft smudging around her form only underscores that the piece exists somewhere on the boundary of fine art and mere object of utility. Editor: What's beautiful here is its immediacy. We don’t know who the model was, what Israels ultimately envisioned, but this whisper of an image still whispers back to us. It makes one consider how much of "art" boils down to the basic interplay between medium, process, and observation; there isn't a lot of daylight showing up in between these various aspects. Curator: A dance of graphite and paper—Israels invites us to complete the reverie. Editor: And to perhaps ponder the material life this little pencil study quietly occupies in a major institution.