Abklatsch van de krijttekening op blad 9 recto c. 1886 - 1934

Editor: So here we have “Abklatsch van de krijttekening op blad 9 recto,” a drawing done in graphite and pencil on paper, dating between 1886 and 1934, by Isaac Israels. It's... wispy. Like a ghost image, barely there. It gives off an aura of transience, or of something remembered fading away. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Ah, yes! A whisper from the past, isn’t it? The smudged quality almost feels like a half-remembered dream, like trying to grasp smoke. Israels, always the flâneur, capturing fleeting moments. This ‘Abklatsch’, or rubbing, hints at a duplication, a copy of a chalk drawing. Doesn't it make you wonder about the original drawing, and what Israels wanted to preserve of it? Editor: Definitely. Knowing it's a copy makes it even more intriguing, like it’s one step removed from reality. Was this a common practice for Israels? Why go to the trouble of making a rubbing? Curator: Indeed! It was likely a technique for quickly transferring a design or preserving a sketch from his notebooks. Israels was prolific, always sketching and observing. This rubbing allowed him to retain an impression, a ghost of an idea that he might later revisit in a painting. It's not just about accuracy; it’s about the trace of an idea. Perhaps it served as a prompt for further exploration? Does the ghostly aesthetic change your initial feeling? Editor: It does. Now I'm thinking less about something fading, and more about a process. A method of capturing something quickly, imperfectly, to be used later. Curator: Precisely! And doesn’t that imperfection make it all the more… evocative? A glimpse into the artist’s process, a raw, unfiltered thought. I keep wondering if it was originally another drawing by his hand. Now I feel a stronger urge to keep creating myself. Editor: I agree, I love how this little sketch opens up such a broader understanding of an artist’s work. It is truly a snapshot from another moment! Curator: To catch hold of the ghost and release your imagination! Absolutely.