THE LAST SILHOUETTIST was suggested to me as a blog title during a phone conversation a couple of years ago. At the time I didn’t really believe that writing a blog was something I was capable of. I’m still not sure it is, but at least I’m going to give it a go!
Sadly, I can’t even recall who the conversation was with, otherwise I’d credit them with the title. He was one of those people who promise to demystify LinkedIn, and explain how it can make me loads more important contacts, yet somehow failed to deliver on the promise. I don’t think it was him. I have a blindness when it comes to LinkedIn.
Who is the Last Silhouettist?
He suggested the title when I explained a bit of my history and how hard I’d been unable to find anybody to teach me (this was back in the 1990s, long before LinkedIn or any other online networking site existed, so I couldn’t simply search the world-wide web for ‘silhouette artist’ as I might do today). I had formed the impression that nobody at all was still cutting silhouettes, and that it was a vanished art.
“That’s it!” he exclaimed…
“You’re the last of the silhouettists!”
Francis Giles and a silhouette swap.
I did meet one other silhouettist at the time. His name was Francis Giles, an old man living in Wales. I had known about him for some time, but finally went to visit him in 1996, the year I decided to leave my Covent Garden stall behind and embark on a full-time career as a silhouette artist.
He’d been cutting silhouettes since the 1960s and by all accounts had had an interesting career. He recounted to me stories about the trade shows he had been booked for, and how surprised he was that the companies he was working for treated him so well. He had met and cut silhouettes of some well-known people including the famous magician–silhouettist Dai Vernon.
I suggested to Francis Giles that we swap silhouettes, which he reluctantly agreed to do. I was surprised by the size of his cutting, which dwarfed my own silhouette of him. I was basing my own cutting style on the work of Hubert Leslie and had never seen such a large silhouette.
Why Blog about Silhouettes?
As I left he suggested I might like some lessons from him. It was kind of him to offer, but I declined all the same. His silhouette of me still hangs on the wall and was my first “silhouette swap.” Sadly he passed away a few years later.
Many people have suggested I write a blog. In fact they’ve been suggesting it ever since blogs became a thing. Somehow I never felt it was quite right for me. But of course they’re right. Silhouettes are a strange, niche subject, mostly forgotten by the art world. Somebody needs to write about them, so it may as well be me.
My plan is to write about a few of the interesting events I attend and cut silhouettes at. I’d also like to write about some of the many silhouette swaps I’ve made with other artists since Francis Giles cut his portrait of me.
I get the feeling that the market I’ve found for my work in corporate events is quite different from the way silhouette artists worked in the past. If possible, I’d also like to find out a bit more about that and write about it too.
Do let me know if you have any suggestions!
Postscript
By Charles Burns | 28th February 2016
I’ve moved from Blogger to this site.
The original blog (with comments) is still live as: The Last Silhouettist
