Studieblad met benen en een hoofd c. 1915s - 1925s

Isaac Israels made this sketch of legs and a head, with pencil on paper. I love to look at unfinished drawings like this, it's like catching a glimpse of the artist in mid-thought. I imagine Israels quickly capturing the essential forms, trying to understand weight and volume with just a few lines. He's feeling his way around the subject, testing out angles and proportions. See how the legs are rendered with these delicate, almost tentative lines. There's a real economy of means here, a sense of searching and finding. The scribbled head is a fascinating contrast, a burst of energy and shadow. It's this constant exchange, this dialogue between precision and improvisation, that makes the work so compelling. You get the sense that, for Israels, drawing was a way of thinking, a process of discovery.