Figuurstudies 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made these "Figure Studies" with pencil on paper, and they really get at the heart of what drawing is all about. It’s like catching a fleeting thought. The thing that grabs me is how Israels uses line—it’s so alive! It's not about perfection. Look at the way he renders those figures; each line feels like a quick decision. There’s this sense of immediacy, like he’s trying to capture a moment before it disappears. You can almost feel the energy of the studio, the models shifting, the artist’s hand moving quickly across the page. It makes me think of other artists who were obsessed with capturing the everyday, like Degas with his dancers, or Toulouse-Lautrec with his cabaret scenes. It’s like Israels is part of this conversation about how to see and record the world around us, not in a static way, but as something fluid and ever-changing. It’s not about getting it "right," but about finding something true in the process.