Portret van een onbekende vrouw, ten halven lijve c. 1915s - 1925s

This drawing of an unknown woman is by Isaac Israels, but the date it was made is unknown. Look how Israels' pencil is all over the place, crisscrossing to build up shadows. It reminds me that making art is a process. The textures here are created entirely by the density and direction of the graphite lines. Israels doesn't try to hide his process; you can see every stroke. The way the shading is concentrated around her face and upper body makes those areas pop. Notice the almost frantic scribbling in the background; it's like he's trying to trap her in a web of lines. The looseness and energy in this drawing makes me think of Van Gogh's drawings. Both artists use line not just to describe form, but to express feeling, showing how art is an ongoing conversation across time, where artists riff off each other, pushing and pulling at the boundaries of what art can be.