Standing dancer

Standing Dancer by Isaac Israëls from 1900 belongs to the series of theatrical subjects — dancers, performers, women in rehearsal or at rest — that he developed alongside his interest in Parisian café and street life. Israëls was drawn to the world of performance and popular entertainment in a manner that recalls Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec, and his dancers share with those painters' subjects the dual status of performers observed in their professional rather than private identity. The Centraal Museum holds this example of his theatrical figure work.

Israëls renders the standing dancer with the rapid, assured technique he applied to all his figure subjects. The dancer's pose is captured with an economy of means that suggests the immediacy of direct observation — a sketch elevated through confidence of execution. His handling of the dancer's costume captures its texture and movement without labored description.