It’s sometimes difficult to avoid indulging in ‘accolade overdrive’ when discussing the significance of certain artists from the past. Artist Jozef Israels (1824 - 1911) has been described as the ‘Dutch Millet’ who, is his depiction of the depths of human feeling, is regarded as a worthy successor to Rembrandt and an inspiration to Vincent Van Gogh. He is also regarded as the most significant Dutch artist of the 19th Century.
Israels had an extensive and academic arts education which included studying in Paris, and in his early career was a history painter depicting scenes of national heroes that were poorly received due to their stiffness and theatricality. But he began to take an interest in the work of social realists such as Jean Francois Millet of the Barbazon School and Gustave Dore.
Children Of The Sea, oil on canvas 1872
Jenny Reynaerts, senior curator of 18th and 19th century painting at the Rijksmuseum has some interesting commentary on one of Israels’ most famous paintings “Children Of The Sea” from 1872. She tells us that at an early stage of his career, Israels fell ill with rheumatism and was advised by his doctors in 1855 to move to the coastal town of Zandvoort to improve his health.
He immediately began taking an interest in his surroundings and, in particular, the lives of the local fishing community. He decided this would become one of the main subjects of his future work. The poor clothing suggests that these children are probably members of a fishing family and the composition is thought to be a portent of the lives that lay ahead of them. The boy has a little girl on his shoulders whilst another girl hangs on to his clothing. This suggests that one day the boy will become a fisherman, carrying the weight of the family, and the girls will be waiting on the coast for his return.
Awaiting The Fishermen's Return After A Storm, 51 x 64 cm
Israels often painted scenes of women waiting on the shore for the return of the fishermen after a storm, hoping they have survived and have a sufficient catch to take to market. Thus, there is a level of anxiety in these scenes. Reynaerts argues that “Children Of The Sea” can provide an incentive to look around our local area to find inspiration for art.
Israels became a leading member of The Hague School, named after a coastal city in the Netherlands where a group of Dutch artists lived and worked roughly between 1860 and 1890. The school reacted against traditional academic painting, preferring to present realistic images of rural everyday life and poignant scenes of the simple, often lonely lives of peasants. The artists generally used a sombre, muted palette that saw them dubbed The Gray School.
When One Grows Old, 143 x 89 cm
In his discussion of Israels’ painting “When One Grows Old”, critic Robert Rosenblum refers to the woman’s gnarled hands, the crude wooden chair that evokes a life of hardship and the chill of winter invoking her imminent passing. And yet Rosenblum also refers to the “softened haze of sentimentality” that exists in Israels’ work that obscures the harsh truths of his themes. He is drawing a comparison with the tough crudity of Van Gogh’s early depictions of peasant life. I’m not sure I agree with this assessment.
Alone In The World, 38 x 55 cm, c.1878
His depictions of village life earned Israels international fame and he exhibited in Paris and London as well as Holland. He taught numerous pupils including his son Isaac. The Venice Biennale honoured Israels with a retrospective exhibition following his death in 1911.
References, the web;
The Art Story
The Rijksmuseum
Books;
Art of the Nineteenth Century: Painting and Sculpture by Robert Rosenblum & H. W. Janson