Hoofd, mogelijk Japans c. 1925s

Isaac Israels made this drawing, Hoofd, mogelijk Japans, sometime in his lifetime, with pencil on paper. The first thing you notice is the quickness of the marks. See how the lines create volume, but they don't belabor the point? This is drawing as thinking, a process of feeling out the form. The hatching, especially around the neck, is so rhythmic. I love how it suggests shadow and depth with such simple means. Look at the eyes, those small dark pools that stare right back at you. There's such directness in the gaze. Israels is playing with the tension between representation and abstraction, pushing the limits of what a few lines can convey. There is a conversation with Manet here, in its sketch-like quality. It's like he's saying, "Here's a portrait, but it's also just a bunch of marks on paper." And somehow, in that ambiguity, the drawing comes alive.