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Lot Essay
Isaac Israëls began to study painting at a young age in the studio of his father, Jozef Israëls, who was an internationally renowned and much loved Dutch genre painter. Yet Isaac wanted to establish his own artistic reputation and pursue a path independent from his father. While Jozef chose to portray in his works hardworking fishermen, Isaac often painted the bathers in the seaside village of Scheveningen going to the shore for leisure.
Israëls studied and worked in Amsterdam and came to be one of the most important tastemakers of late-nineteenth-century Dutch painting. When he was about forty years old, in 1904, he moved to Paris, and immersed himself in the artistic life of the city. Both in Amsterdam and in Paris Israëls devoted himself to painting and drawing buzzing scenes of modern life: dancing and flirting couples, women alone in cafes and restaurants, carousels, acrobats and singers. Adopting a bright palette and bold brushstrokes, the artist recorded in many of his works, like in the present composition, the vibrant life of the city.
In this large pastel Israel rendered a snapshot of the dynamism and energy bursting on the streets and squares. The composition is cut in a way that the figures seem to be moving beyond the frame towards the viewer. The strokes are rapid, energetic and mimic the movement of the merry-go-round. The artist treated the same subject in a similar pastel is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. SK-A-3668) and a further, sketchier version, was sold at Christie’s in Amsterdam (10 November 2010, lot 80).
Israëls studied and worked in Amsterdam and came to be one of the most important tastemakers of late-nineteenth-century Dutch painting. When he was about forty years old, in 1904, he moved to Paris, and immersed himself in the artistic life of the city. Both in Amsterdam and in Paris Israëls devoted himself to painting and drawing buzzing scenes of modern life: dancing and flirting couples, women alone in cafes and restaurants, carousels, acrobats and singers. Adopting a bright palette and bold brushstrokes, the artist recorded in many of his works, like in the present composition, the vibrant life of the city.
In this large pastel Israel rendered a snapshot of the dynamism and energy bursting on the streets and squares. The composition is cut in a way that the figures seem to be moving beyond the frame towards the viewer. The strokes are rapid, energetic and mimic the movement of the merry-go-round. The artist treated the same subject in a similar pastel is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. SK-A-3668) and a further, sketchier version, was sold at Christie’s in Amsterdam (10 November 2010, lot 80).