Beloosesky Gallery is interested in purchasing original paintings by Isaac Israels.
Please call (917) 749-4557 or email us at info@beloosesky.com
Isaac Lazarus Israels (February 3rd, 1865 – October 7th, 1934) was a Dutch painter associated with the Amsterdam Impressionism movement.
The son of the cultivated and sophisticated painter Jozef Israels, Isaac Israels developed an interest in literature, travel and painting as a child. Between 1878 and 1880 he studied at the academy in The Hague. His special talent was obvious from an early age. In 1881, when he was 16, he painted a picture which was purchased even before it was finished by the artist and collector Hendrik Willem Mesdag.
Apart from one or two extensive travels, from 1886 Israels lived in Amsterdam. In that year he registered at the Amsterdam Academy of Art to complete his schooling. However, he only stayed for the one year as there was not much more they could teach him. Israels often spent the summer months with his father in Scheveningen. Fascinated by the changeable light of sun and sea, he painted many colourful seaside scenes.
In Amsterdam Israels was a close friend of George Hendrik Breitner. The two artists tried to capture the fleeting moments of everyday life in the Dutch capital. To obtain that 'snapshot' feeling, they used abruptly truncated figures.
Israels moved to Paris in 1904, establishing his studio at 10 rue Alfred Stevens, near Montmartre and just yards away from the studio of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec whom he admired, as he also did Edgar Degas. As in Amsterdam, he painted the Parisian specific motifs: the public parks, cafes, cabarets and bistros, as well as such subjects as fairgrounds and circus acrobats. Likewise he sought out the fashion houses Paquin and Drecoll (fr) to continue his studies of the world of fashion. However, he only exhibited once in this period, in 1909.
At the outbreak of the First World War he was living in London, where he found new subjects in horse-riding at Rotten Row and in ballerinas and boxers. He returned to Holland for the duration of the war, living alternately in The Hague, Amsterdam and Scheveningen, where he worked primarily as a portrait painter. Amongst his sitters was Magaretha Gertrud Zelle, better known as Mata Hari, executed as a spy in France in 1917. Her portrait can be seen at the Kröller-Müller Museum. Other sitters included Johanna van Gogh-Bonger and the feminist physician Aletta Jacobs, although he also portrayed ordinary subjects such as girls in the street and telephone operators.
Following the war, he returned to his parent's home in The Hague, where his father's old studio became his new workplace. There, until his death, he produced his impressionist paintings with their bright and brilliant colours.
At the age of 63, he won a Gold Medal at the 1928 Olympic Games for his painting Red Rider, an art competition then being part of the games.
He died in The Hague on 7 October 1934, aged 70, as a result of a street accident a few days before.
Biography partially from the Archives of AskART
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Caldic Collection, Rotterdam
Centraal Museum, Utrecht
Dordrecht Museum, Dordrecht
Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague
Groninger Museum, Groningen
Hannema-de Stuers Foundation, Heino
Historisch Museum Het Schielandshuis, Rotterdam
Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Amsterdam
Museum Boyjmans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany
Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
Museum Kröller-Muller, Otterlo
Museum Mesdag, The Hague
Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Stedlijk Museum, Schiedam
Teylers Museum, Haarlem
Universiteitsmuseum De Agnietenkapel, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam