Samuel Joseph Brown, Jr. (1907–1994), Self-Portrait, ca. 1941. Watercolor over graphite on paper, 20 1/4 × 15 1/4 in. (51.5 × 38.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Pennsylvania W. P. A., 1943. Public domain (CC0).

Self-Portrait

Samuel Joseph Brown, Jr., ca. 1941. Watercolor over graphite on paper.

Profile
Side light
Painting

Two heads of the artist side by side, one facing front and one in profile facing left, built from flat planes of cool blue watercolor with the light from the left.

Open in the value study maker

The image is free to use for any purpose: the museum has released it into the public domain.

Value studies

Self-Portrait as a study in 2 values — **Notan, 2 values.** Split at value 5.2: 70% of the picture is dark and 30% light.

Self-Portrait as a study in 3 values — **3 values.** 45% dark (values 0 to 4), 31% middle (4 to 5.9) and 24% light (5.9 to 10).

Self-Portrait as a study in 5 values — **5 values.** From darkest to lightest: 35%, 18%, 21%, 16% and 11% of the picture.

Split at the picture's natural breaks between light and dark, with Simplify at 5, as in the value study maker. Values run from 0 (black) to 10 (white).

Palette

#42475FValue 3.1, cool
24%
#616E79Value 4.6, cool
20%
#494753Value 3.1, neutral
14%
#505B70Value 3.9, cool
12%
#A9ABA8Value 7.0, neutral
8%
#CFC6B4Value 8.0, warm
8%
#7F919BValue 5.9, cool
8%
#928E8BValue 5.9, neutral
5%

The 8 main colors run from value 3.1 to 8.0: 1 warm, 4 cool and 3 neutral. See warm and cool colors for how the labels are worked out.

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