Vrouwenhoofd 1875 - 1934

Curator: We're looking at "Vrouwenhoofd," or "Head of a Woman," a drawing by Isaac Israels, likely created sometime between 1875 and 1934. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Oh, I like this! It’s got this sort of… carefree, flapper-girl energy. Like she's about to laugh, or maybe she just told a really good joke. There's a looseness to the lines. Curator: Indeed. This is Israels working in what we now understand as the impressionistic style. You see that thin linework capturing something fleeting? Editor: Totally! Like, he’s not trying to get every detail perfect, he’s just capturing a vibe, right? Like a doodle during a rather dull lecture about the subconscious mind and its weird manifestations of all those women’s heads! Curator: Precisely. The artist doesn’t outline the form; rather, he suggests shape and volume with rapidly hatched and curving strokes. This almost looks as though it could come from a sketchbook. Editor: Oh yeah, absolutely! You can almost feel the page under his hand, the quick strokes. Like a peek into his private little world. All of this work is a sort of pen-ink and pencil experimentation; a personal sketchbook drawing with a certain charm to its imperfection. Curator: Right, he's playing with those stylistic qualities. And considering that context, you could examine those strokes within the symbol of freedom he gave to this subject as one would imagine with a pen illustration; freedom of thought or attitude. The symbolism exists within both the impressionistic qualities of his lines as much as the medium chosen to relay the drawing to begin with. Editor: Mmm. I also find this head so...present. I think its simplicity allows her expression to feel really immediate. It's such an uncomplicated composition, yet it tells us a lot about not just this character’s appearance but something essential about who she may be or the impression she left upon Isaac Israels. Curator: An ephemeral sense of self captured through lines; you couldn’t describe impressionism more eloquently. It serves as a beautiful record that still inspires imagination over 100 years later. Editor: I think you just said it, like those raw yet sensitive contours allow it to really live and breathe, so even the absence is there within the presence! I might try to play a similar impressionistic game and draw her!