Itten's exercise #3

9"x12" Charcoal
Exercise #1 Light-dark harmony

9"x12" Charcoal
Exercise #2 Balancing out area of various sizes and tone values.

9"x12" Charcoal
Exercise #3 The geometrical light-dark analysis of Valezquez's painting, Juan de Pareja.
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9"x12" Oil Pastel
Personal Exercise inspired by previous Itten exercises

These are some of the exercises from the book by Johannes Itten(1888-1967). Itten was one of the teachers who organized the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany in 1919. I came across his name and works at the Bauhaus exhibition at MOMA in the fall of 2009.
In this book, he stresses the importance of chiaroscuro(the contrast btwn light and dark) as "one of the most expressive means of composition."