Liggende naakte vrouw c. 1915s - 1925s

Isaac Israels made this drawing of a reclining nude woman with graphite on paper. There’s something so open and exploratory about sketches like this. I like to think about how the artist would be feeling, sitting in the presence of their model, translating the three-dimensional to two dimensions. Look at the almost hesitant, but confident lines around her torso. How does one line become form? It’s kind of magical, right? Israels seems to be searching for the line that will best describe the sitter's figure, the perfect curve, the right weight. You can almost feel the artist thinking aloud with his pencil! I like to see how artists are working through their ideas. It connects us to them, and to other artists throughout time. It reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation, always open to new interpretations and meanings.