His Early Life

Isaac Lazarus Israels (1865-1934) was the leading figure of the Amsterdam Impressionism movement. Israels was the son of well-known Hague School artist Jozef Israels. He is renowned for his highly luminous and free brushwork. The subjects of his paintings originated from his travels in cities like Paris, London and Indonesia. Isaac studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. Israels was spending his summers with his father at the seaside resort of Scheveningen near The Hague where his father’s guests often included Edouard Manet. He was greatly influenced by the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Edgar Degas.

His First Salon Exhibition

Israels attended the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague at the early age of thirteen. Here, he befriended Georg Hendrik Breitner, who, like him, was also fascinated by military subjects. As a result, Israels made the debut exhibition of his painting ‘Military burial’ at the Salon in 1882. A few years later, in 1886, the two artists enrolled at the Reijksacademie in Amsterdam. A year later, the two artists left the academy and joined the circle of the ‘Tachtigers’ or the ‘Eighties’, a progressive Dutch movement of writers and artists. At the age of sixteen, Isaac sold his first painting to the famous Dutch collector Hendrik Willem Mesdag and began to exhibit with his father at the official Salon des Artistes Francais in Paris.

Famous Spy ‘Mata Hari’, His Sitter

Israels was living in Paris and London during the Edwardian period and he returned to The Netherlands during the First World War. He became primarily a portraitist thereafter. The famous Dutch-Germa courtesan and spy, Magaretha Gertrud Zella, better known as Maa Hari, who was later executed in France in 1917, was one of his famous sitters. He also portrayed ordinary subjects such as girls in the street and telephone operators. After the war, Israels visited several cities in Europe, including London, Paris, Stockholm, etc. He spent the years from 1921to 1922 travelling to India and Dutch East Indies sketching and painting the vibrant life of South East Asia, especially Bali.

Won an Olympic Medal for ‘Red Rider’

On his return to The Hague, he settled in his deceased parents’ home, where remained for the rest of his life. He was making regular sketching trips abroad to London, Italy and the French Riviera. Israels won a Gold Medal at the 1928 Olympic Games for his painting Red Rider at the age of 63. During those days, an art competition was a part of the Olympic Games. Israels died on 7 October 1934, aged 69, as a result of a street accident that had taken place a few days earlier.

His Well-known Paintings

Israels’ well-known paintings include ‘Fontaine St.Anne, Friebourg’, ‘Figures in the Park’, ‘Bois de Boulogne’, ‘The Blak Boxer’ (1914), ‘Regent Street’, (1913), ‘The Parrotman’, ‘Standing Girl’, ‘A Lady at the Beach’, ‘Donkey Rides on the Beach’, ‘A Man With Three Girls’, ‘Maids on the Leidsegracht’, ‘Young Woman Gazing at the Sea’, ‘Portrait of Nanette’, etc.