THE ENGLISH SILHOUETTISTTE April Fielding (her description, not mine) has been hard to bring out of the shadows. Until this month, I didn’t even know her name! I only recognised a series of well-cut postcard silhouettes, made in the 1900s, embellished with graphite and initialled “AF”.
AN APRIL FOOL INVITATION for event organisers to experience a ten-minute sitting in my virtual silhouette studio.
OTHO BARDEN was an American artist who cut silhouettes during the summer season at the popular tourist attraction of Rock City at the top of Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He seems to have worked there for many years, probably from the opening of Rock City in 1932 until the mid 1950s.
WHEN GOOGLING “Audax” all you’ll find is information about long-distance cycle racing. However, Audax was also a silhouettist with a career spanning over 40 years. This is why I refer to him as the long-distance silhouettist!
WHO ON EARTH was Mrs Ames? It’s a good question. Considering that only one pair of silhouettes painted by her has ever been identified, researchers have written a surprising amount about this artist (or artists).
HAVE YOU ALREADY MADE PLANS for Christmas? Or are you, like me, completely stuck? I’ve been thinking about silhouette cutting as an online ‘gift experience’ and holding onto the idea that silhouettes still make interesting and personal mementos of the unique times we’re all living through.
BAJ B. IS ONE of my favourite silhouettists. I’ve learned a lot from looking at the best of their silhouettes (I’ve no idea whether Baj was male or female, so will use the non-gendered third person). At their best there are silhouettes I would struggle emulate.
IF YOU’RE ON my newsletter list I have a small favour to ask. I’m currently planning a newsletter on “the socially-distant silhouettist”. It’s an important subject; many artists and entertainers are thinking how to provide their services in both a safe and entertaining manner. For me, this is crucial in rebuilding a battered career!
OVER THE FIRST FEW WEEKS of lockdown I did a series of online experiments. I began simply by inviting friends to an evening of online silhouette cutting.
IT’S ONLY BY an accident of history that anybody knows anything about the silhouettist William Allport at all. He was a workman-like artist…
DID I MENTION that I was building a time machine? Well, I’m delighted to report that my silhouette time machine is now live and active.
SAMUEL ANDREWS’ rather ghostly white en-grisaille cameos occupy that strange overlap between silhouette and portrait miniature.
THE TIME-TRAVELLING silhouettist sounds like a character from a steam-punk extravaganza. I’d love to imagine I could be that man!
THE FRENCHMAN known as “Monsieur Adolphe” was quite a character. Was he responsible for the myth that silhouettes are a French art?
SILHOUETTES ARE FAMOUS for being black, but very few are actually made by a blacksmith. Carl Ackerlund, from Minnesota, USA was such a man: a blacksmith silhouettist.
SOON AFTER the start of the Coronavirus lockdown all my “real world” events were cancelled. Since then, I’ve been cutting my silhouettes online, especially at Zoom parties.
