Figuren op een terras 1875 - 1934

This lively sketch, "Figuren op een terras," was made by Isaac Israels. It looks like it was made using a pencil, in one of those sketchbooks artists carry around with them. I can imagine Israels sitting at a table, maybe with a glass of wine, looking at the people in front of him. It's pretty rough, and you can see how he has really gone for it. You know, I think about the history of drawing, about the way we build up marks and let them kind of swarm together. Each of those hatched marks is like a thought that overlaps and makes something new. The pressure of the pencil on the page suggests the intensity of the artist's gaze, trying to capture a fleeting moment. It's a great example of how drawing can embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, inviting us to see the world in new ways.