Schetsboek XXV met 23 bladen c. 1915s - 1925s

This is sketchbook number 25, containing 23 pages, made by Isaac Israels. The outside cover looks like an abstract painting in itself! There are what look like water stains that have aged and discolored over time. This adds another layer to the sketchpad, which is meant to be a space for experimenting. I wonder what the cover felt like, and what the pages inside feel like. Did they have a rough or a smooth surface? There is also what looks like handwriting in blue ink. It could be seen as a drawing in itself. It's a very personal, private object, transformed into something abstract. The stains remind me a little of Helen Frankenthaler's soak-stain paintings from the 1950s. Except here, there is no gesture, no artist involved in the making of the marks. Both embrace accident and process in their work. It's nice to consider how art, over time, embraces this ambiguity, this openness to multiple readings.