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Romaine Brooks

 

At The Seaside — Self-portrait, Romaine Brooks, 1914

CONTEXT CLUES:

Romaine had a very unhappy childhood and was extremely poor as a young adult. Though her early paintings are more colorful, when Brooks was around 30 years old she began to experiment with painting almost exclusively in shades of gray. The lack of color could have been a reflection of her mood, the 'shadow' that she says had been cast over her life since childhood. However, Romaine could've also been influenced by the new invention of photography, which was only in black and white at the time. What do you think?

Other (NOT self-portraits) by Brooks:











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