Who invented silhouette portraits?
"A French bureaucrat by the name of Etienne de Silhouette created this
form of portraiture in Paris, France in the mid- 1700's. Etienne was
the French Minister of Finance, and was just as well-known for cutting
"shades" of people as he was for cutting the budget to the bone."
(copied from a web site).
"Colonial Silhouette Art: Another form of paper art was the making of
portrait silhouettes. The person to be captured in the art form was
seated behind white paper. A candle was lit and placed behind the
sitter who's profile was then cast onto the white paper. A machine was
used which marked and reduced the shadow. The reduced silhouettes was
cut from black paper, mounted and framed."
http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/Class/est572/joreste/
Students can make their own cut paper silhouettes representing their culture.
I thought this was appropriate since some teachers were asking for
figure drawing lesson ideas. If anyone does a Kara Walker lesson -
send me a sample of student work and a brief "this is what we
did....". I would like to put it on Incredible Art Department.
