Figuren op straat in Parijs 1887 - 1934

Curator: Isaac Israels' "Figuren op straat in Parijs," created sometime between 1887 and 1934, captures a street scene with just pencil on paper, and it is currently housed at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: You know, the first thing that strikes me is the hurried, almost frantic energy of the sketch. It's like he's trying to capture a fleeting moment, a breath of Parisian life, before it vanishes. Curator: That immediacy is characteristic of Impressionism, the style to which this drawing is connected, an artistic trend very popular during this time, and also in the style of Israels, it’s not so much about precise representation, but about conveying a sensory impression. The diagonal hatching above perhaps a heavy sky suggests that transience you mention, and it emphasizes a city changing, growing… perhaps under immense tension at that time. Editor: Tension is exactly the word! I see it in the jostling figures, these blurry individuals swallowed by the urban environment. Are they escaping, or are they rushing toward something? Curator: The sketch, so evocative, provides scant clues. Israels reduces each person to a set of lines and quick gestures, reflecting the experience of being among crowds, of fading into the urban backdrop. One cannot but notice the strong vertical lines of buildings towering over the street level, with tiny human figures down below. We also witness here what historian Simon Schama described when talking about the Dutch 17th century painters in the Dutch Golden Age: "an embarrassment of riches". Editor: An embarrassment? That seems harsh. Perhaps overwhelmed by the sensory overload? I feel a slight melancholy lurking in the shadows of those buildings, even in this energetic depiction. What's your take? Curator: Melancholy isn't misplaced at all. Despite the dynamic impressionism, the somewhat rough handling of forms, figures seemingly adrift among those austere structures—this generates a visual tension between belonging and alienation that surely mirrors the individual’s feelings in modern urban life. It is what contributes a very potent quality in Isaac Israels' images. Editor: Beautifully put. It’s incredible how much feeling can be evoked with just a few strokes of a pencil. I’ll never look at a busy street the same way again!