Drie staande figuren, mogelijk vrouwen 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing of three standing figures, possibly women, sometime between when he was born in 1865 and when he died in 1934. The urgency in mark-making suggests that Israels was capturing a fleeting moment, a snapshot in time, quickly. The texture feels raw, immediate. Israels uses simple lines to suggest form, but look closely at the figure on the right. Notice how the shading isn't about blending or smoothness; it's about parallel lines, creating a sense of volume through a very graphic, almost diagrammatic approach. The clothing of the figures on the left, with it’s darker, more densely packed lines, seems to vibrate on the page. This drawing reminds me a bit of Degas, especially his pastels of dancers caught in candid moments. Both artists share a desire to capture the essence of their subjects with an economy of means. Israels embraces the unfinished, the provisional. It's a celebration of process over product, inviting us to see the world as a series of possibilities rather than fixed realities.