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Lot Essay
Together with his friend George Hendrik Breitner Isaac Israels took up the subject of the female nude in the 1890's. Isaac and Breitner turned away from the academic tradition in which the idealized female nude was placed in a mythological or allegorical setting. They preferred to show the physicality of their sitters and Breitner would sometimes even accentuate the less attractive features of his models in order to express a woman's 'strong instincts'. The public was appalled. Not only was nudity found shocking, the fact that the nudes were executed after a live model in the private space of the painter's studio was found highly inappropriate.
In Isaac's work two periods of interest for the female nude can be observed. In the 1890's in Amsterdam Israels mostly produced works on paper with this subject. As international travel was difficult during the first World War, artists looked to subjects in their immediate surroundings. From 1915 until 1920 the female nude became once again a significant part of Israel's oeuvre. The present lot probably originates from this same period.
As in the present lot, Israels often depicted the model reading or sleeping, unaware of the beholder, creating an intimate atmosphere. Colour is treated in a subtle way, using soft pink, greys and white. A.M. Hammacher, art critic and director of the Krüller-Möller Museum from 1948 until 1963, was clearly thinking of Isaac's more intimate nudes when he wrote: "Isaac heeft dat op een welhaast fransche wijze gedaan, zoo verrukkelijk licht, blank en onzwaar, met fijne gratie. Geheel vrij van romantische verteedering of valsche sentimentaliteit, vrij ook van brutale zinnelijkheid".
We are grateful to Joop van Roosmalen for his help in cataloguing this lot.
In Isaac's work two periods of interest for the female nude can be observed. In the 1890's in Amsterdam Israels mostly produced works on paper with this subject. As international travel was difficult during the first World War, artists looked to subjects in their immediate surroundings. From 1915 until 1920 the female nude became once again a significant part of Israel's oeuvre. The present lot probably originates from this same period.
As in the present lot, Israels often depicted the model reading or sleeping, unaware of the beholder, creating an intimate atmosphere. Colour is treated in a subtle way, using soft pink, greys and white. A.M. Hammacher, art critic and director of the Krüller-Möller Museum from 1948 until 1963, was clearly thinking of Isaac's more intimate nudes when he wrote: "Isaac heeft dat op een welhaast fransche wijze gedaan, zoo verrukkelijk licht, blank en onzwaar, met fijne gratie. Geheel vrij van romantische verteedering of valsche sentimentaliteit, vrij ook van brutale zinnelijkheid".
We are grateful to Joop van Roosmalen for his help in cataloguing this lot.