Twee studies van een vrouw met hoed, in profiel 1875 - 1934

Here, Isaac Israels sketched two studies of a woman with a hat in profile using charcoal. The process is right there on the surface, isn't it? I mean, look at the smudges and the powdery bits. You can almost see his hand moving across the page, figuring out the shape of that hat, the curve of her back. It's like he's thinking with the charcoal, letting the material guide him. And those lines, they're not precious or fussy. They're confident, quick, and full of energy. Focus on the way he uses the charcoal to create depth and shadow. See how he presses harder in some areas, making them darker and more defined, and then lightens up in others, letting the white of the paper peek through? It’s a dance between light and dark, solid and void, that gives the sketch its immediacy. It reminds me a little of Degas' drawings, that same interest in capturing a fleeting moment, a sense of movement and spontaneity. It’s like art is this ongoing conversation, where artists riff off each other, borrowing and remixing ideas across time.