Everyone has seen them before: the silhouettes that adorn walls and side tables in retro homes and exude a unique nostalgic flair. If you furnish your apartment in vintage style, the silhouette pictures are a decoration that you should definitely consider. Because this vintage decoration for the home radiates the desired atmosphere like few others can. Learn more about the silhouettes and how they became popular in the past in this article.
The art of silhouettes as vintage-style decoration is essentially a type of photography. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries it was typical to capture one's figure in this way, as it was a cheap and quick alternative to pictures. It was made by amateurs, mostly women, with ink, paint or cut paper. It is a typical feature of the Victorian era.
The silhouette was even depicted on porcelain. In the 19th century they were often depicted in real size. However, the first silhouettes did not only emerge then. Vases with black motifs had been representatives of this type of art for a long time. This also applies to traditional Chinese paper cutting art and picture making has its roots in it.
A legend from the 5th century tells of a Corinthian girl named Dibutade whose lover went on a long journey. To keep his portrait with her, she drew the outline of his face on the wall. For this purpose she used the shadow cast by a candle on the wall.
The history of dibutade is also very interesting in other respects. As in more modern silhouette art, the artist was a woman who wanted a picture of someone she loved and then designed it herself. For the same reasons and using the same technique, silhouettes that we use today were later created in the 19th century.
The art became particularly popular among female amateurs because the silhouettes were created quickly and easily and the women did not need to have any special skills. The first known silhouette image of William and Mary was also created by a woman. Today's decoration quickly developed into a kind of parlor game in the 19th century.
Of course, there were also professional silhouette artists, most of whom were men. This also included artists who cut the silhouettes out of paper. To promote their art, they used the argument that they work quickly and accurately. In order to guarantee the precision and accuracy of copies of today's vintage decoration, various machines were patented in the 19th century.
The portraits were particularly popular with travelers and immigrants, who used them as souvenirs to preserve a memento for themselves or relatives. And even when there is a greater distance between family members, the decoration was a great way to preserve the memory of a dear person. After all, traveling back then was not as easy and short as it is today.
One of the most famous artists was the Frenchman Auguste Édouart. It created silhouettes out of paper, which also represented full-body images. He lived in England from 1815 onwards, but then moved to America in the 1830s, where he popularized this type of art. He created thousands of portraits of well-known and anonymous people. It is thanks to him, among other things, that we have this vintage decoration today.
We have already mentioned that this type of portrait was a popular alternative to the classic portrait, especially in terms of the time it took and the cost. In addition, the chicest dresses were worn for the latter, while for silhouettes the clothing didn't matter because it wasn't shown anyway. This meant that the artists' customers could easily wear their everyday clothes when creating the decorations.
The word silhouette is derived from a French economist and most likely refers either to the cost-effectiveness of the portraits or to their speed. Étienne de Silhouette was a good friend of Madame de Pompadour, who gave him a post as Controller General of Finances in 1759. During the Seven Years' War he had to deal with the dwindling state treasury due to poor administration. During this time he tried to implement economic strategies that he had observed during a long stay in England. However, this attempt to influence the fortunes of the rich resulted in his dismissal as Controller General after just 8 months.
Up until this point, the images now known as silhouettes were referred to as “shadows” or “profiles.” In France the portraits were called “shadow art”. In the 1770s, however, the word “silhouette” quickly spread in this context in Germany and France. In the 1790s the word became known again in England. Edouart, among others, contributed to the spread of the word in England and America.
And as already mentioned, silhouettes are becoming more and more popular as decoration today. Different variants of the silhouettes are used in your own home. On the one hand, antique ones are collected. You can also have new portraits made of yourself or other people. They are offered not only in the form of “photos” but also printed on bags, cups, plates or as decoupage on beer mats.
One of the reasons why decoration is becoming popular again is undoubtedly the works of the artist Kara Walker. Her works depict the violence, abuse and revenge between whites and blacks in history when slavery was still part of everyday life in America.
Whether you want to make a specific statement or just add a chic, nostalgic accent is entirely up to you. The fact is, however, that nowadays any motifs and entire scenes can be depicted on a wide variety of surfaces and materials.
