Zelfportret van Isaac Israels 1875 - 1934

This self-portrait was made by Isaac Israels using pencil on paper. Israels lays down a flurry of marks, a real dance of graphite, to capture his own likeness. It's like he's thinking out loud with his pencil, letting us see the process of construction and the struggle to bring form out of nothing. The texture of the paper becomes part of the image, too. The tooth of the page is a tactile thing, a reminder of the physical act of drawing. Look at the way the lines around the eyes are heavy and dark, giving the face a weight and depth, but then fade into wispy lines on the other side, capturing something about the nature of sight, and insight. Israels reminds me of Degas in his ability to capture a fleeting moment with such intensity, and like Degas, he invites us to see the world as a series of impressions, always shifting, always changing. Art is about the ambiguity, the questions, and the endless possibilities of seeing.