Henry Harrison, the Liseberg Silhouettist
BURIED IN MY COLLECTION are a number of silhouettes by Henry Harrison (or Henri, as he called himself when working in France).
History of Silhouettes
Articles about silhouette history and a wide range of historical silhouettists whose work interests Charles or has influenced him for one reason or another.
TED Talk: The Eighteenth-Century Selfie
In November 2022 I was invited to give a short talk about my work at a TEDx meeting in Arendal, on the south coast of Norway. The video of my talk has just been released and have great pleasure in sharing it here (time: 15 mins approx)
Listening to my Ukrainian Silhouettes
Watching the news of Russian forces rolling into Ukraine a fortnight ago I was embarrassed to realise just how little I knew about the country. I had to look it up on a map! What’s the history, I wondered. Why is this happening? I found I knew almost nothing about either Ukrainian culture or history.
April Fielding, the Crystal Palace Silhouettistte
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”.
Otho Barden: the Rock City Artist
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.
Audax: the long-distance silhouettist?
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!
Mrs Ames, the mysterious Georgian 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).
Baj B: the Lido Beach Silhouettist
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.
William Allport, Liverpudlian silhouettist
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…
Samuel Andrews: cameo profiles of the British Raj
SAMUEL ANDREWS’ rather ghostly white en-grisaille cameos occupy that strange overlap between silhouette and portrait miniature.
Edgar Adolphe, a Frenchman in Brighton
THE FRENCHMAN known as “Monsieur Adolphe” was quite a character. Was he responsible for the myth that silhouettes are a French art?
Carl Ackerlund, blacksmith silhouettist from Minnesota
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.
Adelaide Gallery daguerreotypes and silhouettes
THE ADELAIDE GALLERY is more famous for its innovations in Daguerreotype than for silhouette cutting. Nevertheless, a number of silhouettists seem to have worked there. The London gallery was active in the mid nineteenth century.
Portraits and Caricatures by Inger Eidem
I HEARD ABOUT Inger Eidem long before I knew her name. Whilst cutting silhouettes at events I’d occasionally meet people who’d tell me about silhouettes they had done in their childhood. Apparently the artist cut through two pieces of paper at the same time, one of which became a portrait and the other a caricature.
Prosopographus: the silhouette automaton
AS AN ARTIST interested in science I’m aways fascinated by weird pseudo-scientific ideas of the past, especially if they involve silhouettes. Once which caught my eye recently is the contraption known as Prosopographus.
Harry Oakley’s Trench Life in Silhouette
AFTER WATCHING Silhouette Secrets, recently launched on Amazon, people often ask: what sparked my interest in silhouettes? It isn’t such an easy question to answer. However, my mind often returns to this silhouette, which has been in my family for years. It may well be the first silhouette I ever saw.