Silhouettes came into fashion in America in the late 1700’s and hit their peak in the first half of the 19th century. Considered the “poor man’s portrait,” the middle class, and sometimes the lower classes could afford to pay the few pennies they cost to an itinerant cutter of “shades” or “shadows.” Famous artists, such as Charles Wilson Peale and August Edouart cut portraits using both mechanical and “by hand” methods. Some silhouette artists, such as W. Phelps, became well-known for adding elaborately painted detail on their silhouettes. By the mid 1800’s, cutting sihouettes was a popular parlour art, with the young ladies of the house attempting to make shadowy likenesses of family members and guests. With the invention of modern photography in the mid to late 1800’s, the art of silhouette all but disappeared, but it came back into popularity in the early 1900’s as a boardwalk or carnival attraction.
Kim cuts her silhouettes from soft black silhouette paper, and mounts them on chain-laid paper, marbled papers, or other interesting backgrounds. Samples of historical silhouettes can be seen on our Traditional Silhouettes Page. A price sheet of our 18th Century Historic Silhouettes can be downloaded by clicking the link below:
18th Century Historic Silhouettes
Kim will also cut portrait silhouettes from your photos… a set of two “mirror image” silhouettes is $25, plus shipping. (Additional sets of the same portrait are $15 per set.) They are mounted on linen-textured ivory cardstock, and are ready to frame in any 5″ x 7″ frame. For more examples, visit our Silhouette Portraits Page.
