Silhouettes: The Art of Shadow Portraiture Quiz

Answer: Unknown

The art of silhouette is estimated to have originated 20,000-30,000 years ago. Examples of stone age silhouettes can be found in numerous caves around the world (e.g., Europe, South Africa, Australia). Silhouettes later appeared in Egyptian tomb art approximately 6000 years ago. Also, Greek pottery began to use silhouettes in decoration around 2000 years ago. However, the oldest example of a papercut figure is merely a paper circle dating to the 6th century, which was discovered in Xinjiang, China. By the 7th century, papercutting artistry had spread across Europe, which suggests that the first papercut silhouette portraits were most likely made during this time period.

Reference:

Website: Wikipedia: Papercutting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papercutting

Answer: Minister of Finance

As Minister of Finance, during the Seven Years War, Monsieur Etienne de Silhouette (1709-1767) enacted stringent economic policies to address a mushrooming credit crisis. Silhouette's measures (e.g., melting down gold and silverware for the war effort) were often criticized as being cheap and unseemly by the nobility.

Hence, Silhouette's perceived cheapness combined with his hobby of papercutting portraiture (e.g., an inexpensive alternative to painted and/or sculpted portraits) lead to the cutouts being called "silhouettes".

Answer: All of the choices are correct.

To begin learning silhouette artistry it is necessary to have only three items: 1) white and black paper, 2) sharp scissors, and 3) glue for mounting the completed silhouettes.

Answer: Contrast

There are several reasons for using both white and black paper while cutting silhouettes. By placing the black paper inside a piece of white paper folded in half you can actually see what you are doing and avoid eyestrain. If desired, on the white paper a template can be drawn to guide work. Also, the folded white paper helps stabilize the black paper inside, so that you can cut two silhouettes simultaneously. Finally, the white paper can serve as a template for making additional copies of silhouettes in the future.

Answer: Trace shadows

Tracing shadows is a foolproof way to render an outline of a person or thing. By positioning a lighted lamp with the shade removed near a smaller subject of interest the shadow is enhanced and tracing facilitated. This approach may not render the detail achieved by other methods, but the results can be quite pleasing.

In fact, a copier can be employed to reduce the size of the silhouette template in order to make smaller versions of work.

Answer: Any expertise level

Freehand cutting may require hours of practice, but after the skill is attained it is the quickest method for producing silhouettes. In fact, some individuals find freehand cutting easier than tracing shadows and/or drawing an outline for templates from the very beginning.

Answer: No evidence either way

There is no evidence indicating that learning to make silhouettes by first making templates and/or tracing shadows has any negative impact on subsequently learning freehand cutting. In fact, I would recommend experimenting with all three approaches to determine which one suits you best.

Answer: Two

Silhouette artists customarily make two copies of a silhouette, which are cut simultaneously. The nice thing about this tradition is that the client not only gets a silhouette to keep, but also one to give as a gift.

Answer: The silhouette artist can do it themselves and mounting requires little time

Mounting silhouettes is very easy and only requires putting glue (e.g., rubber cement, wallpaper paste) on the back of the silhouette and placing it directly on white paper. The white mounting paper should be opaque to enhance the contrast between the silhouette and the background and relatively firm in order to support the weight of the glue and the silhouette.

After this simple procedure is complete the mounted silhouette should be left to dry over night. Adequately drying the silhouette is important, because it facilitates success in adding details (e.g., eyelashes, decorative flourishes)to portraiture with a fine tipped ink pen and subsequent framing.

Answer: Hand drawn flourishes

To give silhouettes a more polished appearance details (e.g., eyelashes, decorative flourishes) can be added to mounted silhouettes by using a fine tipped ink pen. To effect a professional presentation for completed silhouettes use black matting, which provides contrast balance and protects the work when inserted in a frame.