Staande figuur, mogelijk een man in een mantel 1875 - 1934

Curator: This quick pencil drawing at the Rijksmuseum is titled "Standing Figure, Possibly a Man in a Coat" by Isaac Israels. The sketch dates sometime between 1875 and 1934. What are your first thoughts on it? Editor: Sparse. And tentative, as if the artist is testing a line of thought rather than asserting a final statement. There's something almost melancholic about the loose lines. Curator: Considering Israels' body of work, it's helpful to see this sketch within the social and political context of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The figure, presumably male, is cloaked, perhaps concealing his identity. Editor: The very lack of detail brings the materiality of artmaking into the spotlight. Pencil on paper—the humblest means—allowing the artist to engage in what seems a fugitive and ephemeral act. Was it a study for a larger composition? I’m drawn to this contrast between the immediacy of the sketch and the imposing garments. The material, and who produces that. The conditions that labor faces… Curator: Exactly. What could a cloak like this signify for the wearer in Israels' era? For some, it’s warmth and security. For others, class division and even societal suppression. Could we perhaps speculate about marginalization and exclusion in the era? Editor: Perhaps. Looking closely, you can see the repeated strokes, the artist feeling out the form. I wonder if these drawings of seemingly anonymous figures speak to a mass produced item with mass consumed figures filling the streets. I agree it speaks to some kind of anonymity or some type of uniform? And that could suggest many implications given all that context. Curator: I agree; there is an interplay between public presentation and hidden stories embedded in such images. The garment, seemingly shielding the body. We may never know all facets about this man. Editor: This makes you wonder about these pieces in time, where we could not have known such facts either way, with social media the production and materials feel a world apart but are often more visible to everyone now. A striking thing about historical artistic moments. Thank you. Curator: Indeed, thank you. It offers, like a half-remembered song, threads and cues from moments we now view distant, yet still so familiar in current contexts.