English

Noun

silhouettes

1. Plural of silhouette

Verb

silhouettes

1. third-person singular of silhouette

French

Noun

f|p

1. Plural of silhouette

A silhouette is a view of some object or scene consisting of the outline and a featureless interior, with the silhouette usually being black. The word is an eponym named after Etienne de Silhouette, a finance minister of Louis XV who in 1759 imposed such harsh economic demands upon the French people that his name became synonymous with anything done or made cheaply.

Etymology

The family name Silhouette is a Frenchified form of a Basque surname, Zilhueta; Arnaud de Silhouette, Etienne's father, was from Biarritz in the French Basque Country; this surname, whose Standard Basque or Batua form is Zuloeta, contains the suffix -eta "abundance of" and zilho, Batua zulo, "hole" (possibly here meaning "cave").

In art

A silhouette is a form of artwork. It is most commonly a human portrait in profile, in black. They do not show any facial expression. Silhouettes are most often made by a skilled silhouette artist by looking at a subject's profile, whether in person or from a photograph, and simply cutting out their likeness freehand.

Two hundred years ago, long before the camera was invented, someone wishing to have an inexpensive portrait created of their loved ones would have visited a silhouette artist. Within minutes and using only a pair of scissors and a skillful eye, he would have produced a little image with a remarkable resemblance to his subject. In America, silhouettes were highly popular from about 1790 to 1840. The invention of the camera signaled the end of the silhouette as a widespread form of portraiture. However, their popularity is being reborn in a new generation of people who appreciate the silhouette as a nostalgic and unique way of capturing a loved one's image.

In popular culture

• Mudflap girl
• Kara Walker

External links

• www.papercutsbyjoe.com American Silhouette-style papercutter Joseph Bagley
• Silhouette Artists List of silhouette artists, both living and historical.
• GAP Guild of American Papercutters

• Costume Silhouettes Fashion silhouettes from the 1920s and 1930s.
• Silhouette Gallery A collection of silhouette style photographs.
• "Silhouette," poem by Jared Carter.

• Silhouette Musical Theatre - A musical theatre company
• Silhouette Vocal Quartet - A female vocal quartet
• Silhouette Photography