Artiesten op het toneel 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels drew "Artiesten op het toneel" with graphite on paper, and you can see a flurry of movement and the gestural energy of the artist at work. I can almost imagine Israels in the theatre sketching these performers live, trying to capture their dynamism. Look how lightly he's touched the paper! There's a real sense of him trying to pin down the scene, a kind of hunting. What might he have been thinking? The drama of the stage, the costumes, the expressions of the dancers... The piece relates to other artists who have captured movement, like Degas or Toulouse-Lautrec. Artists are always riffing off each other, responding to what has come before. This drawing is not about fixed meanings. Instead, it suggests the fleeting nature of live performance, the ongoing conversation between artists across time and media. Israels inspires my own practice, too, making me think about how the simplest of means can capture the most complex of subjects!