The Return Of The Silhouette

Often Regarded As Disneyland Novelties Or Victorian Throwbacks, Silhouettes Are Becoming More Popular

(CBS) 
The most famous of the itinerant paper-cutters was Auguste Edouart. He usually cut full-length figures freehand with scissors and, sometimes painted in details with a bit of whitewash. While the profiles are distinct, Reaves said he took a few shortcuts and made all the feet look exactly alike.

Though the silhouette was sold to the sitter, the artist always made copies, and preserved them in portfolios. Works by Auguste Edouart and others are part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"What I like about silhouettes, in particular these traditional silhouettes by Edouart, is their static quality and their air of politeness," artist Kara Walker said. "In its simplicity, it's just a line, you know? A line drawn with a knife. But it's also a solid."

Walker is a contemporary artist who has integrated this Victorian art form into her own work. She uses silhouettes to challenge racial stereotypes.

"What can a viewer glean from this figure?" she said. "How do you interpret a figure as being a black figure when there's no detail?"

Walker and other artists have put silhouettes back in the limelight, and not just as portraiture. Paper-cutting artist Beatrice Coron cuts entire cities in silhouette.

"I think I started the cityscape when I arrive here," she said. "It becomes a kind of medium to say stories. Because usually you have windows to look out on things. And I'm doing windows for looking in."

Though it's now in the hands of a new generation of practitioners, this old art form is still just as popular for its original purpose, a portrait of record.

"It captures them at the moment," Fellows said. "And they change over the years. And it's a nice tradition to maintain."