In the Shadows
Silhouettes, also known as “shades” or “shadows” because of the black paper used to make the profiles, emerged as a popular art form in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Unlike oil painting, this type of portraiture was inexpensive, required only paper and scissors, and could be produced in a matter of minutes by artists and amateurs alike. The silhouette craze of the 19th century was further energized by the popularity of physiognomy, a theory that one’s inner character could be deciphered through facial features presented in profile. In fact, the most widely read treatise on physiognomy,published between 1775 and 1778, relied on silhouettes to make its case.
Although photography would replace the medium as the most cost effective and instantaneous art form, artists have continued to utilize and reference the silhouette. Selected from Telfair Museums’ permanent collection and spanning many centuries, this exhibition offers examples of silhouettes from the past and present. Although artists have since experimented with and expanded the possibilities of the art form, their works are proof of its enduring appeal and undeniable power.
HELEN HATCH INGLESBY (AMERICAN, 1914–1999)
TOP TO BOTTOM
Man at Low Country Boil, n.d.
Three Girls with Dolls, c. 1941
Paper silhouette
Gift of John and Virginia Duncan in memory of David S. Price III, 2008.23.6 and 2008.23.7
Although paper silhouettes had waned in popularity after the mid-19th century due to the advent of photography, 20th-century artists like Helen Hatch Inglesby returned to the medium, drawn by its materials and storytelling powers. While the local artist was recognized for her cut-outs of prominent Savannahians and nationally recognized figures, she also produced original compositions that celebrate the South.
Known as the “Silhouette Lady,” Inglesby looked to the city of Savannah, its people, and surrounding nature for inspiration. Whether depicting children at play or a Lowcountry boil against a coastal backdrop, the artist’s work is noteworthy for its ability to convey Southern landscapes, themes, and dynamic characters.
AUGUSTE EDOUART (FRENCH, 1789–1861)
Silhouette of two girls, 1840
Watercolor and ink wash on paper
Gift of Mrs. Edward S. Strobhar in memory of Edward S. Strobhar, 1974.13.2
Auguste Amant Constant Fidèle Edouart (known as Auguste Edouart) was one of the most famous silhouette cutters of the 19th century. The French-born artist started his career in England crafting portraits from human and animal hair before transitioning to full-length silhouettes. Edouart was praised in his lifetime for creating dynamic, lifelike portraits and detailed backgrounds that frequently went beyond the typical pale, blank paper.
For this depiction of girls playing with their dolls, the artist cut two outlines from black paper and painted the living room backdrop in watercolor. This type of work was called a “conversation piece” because it represented family members or friends engaged in discussion or activities in domestic settings. In A Treatise on Silhouette Likenesses (1835), Edouart explained his preference for crafting children’s silhouettes: “I am very fond of taking children’s Likenesses; in them I find nature in perfection; they have no pretensions, in fact they do not know what a Likeness is, and they have not the amour propre to wish to appear what they are not.”
UNKNOWN
Profile of Garrick and Hogarth, c. 1799
Paper
Gift of Mrs. Julianna F. Waring, 1977.35
This work commemorates a friendship between two English celebrities from the 18th century: the artist William Hogarth (portrayed on the left, recognizable by his round nose) and actor David Garrick (on the right, donning his signature wig). Garrick had come to the public’s attention through his portrayal of Shakespeare’s Richard III at the Drury Lane Theater in London, while Hogarth was renowned for his satirical paintings and prints, which were frequently reproduced during and well after his lifetime.
This silhouette is featured in Samuel Ireland’s Graphic Illustrations of Hogarth from Pictures and Drawings (1799). The author specifies the following, which sheds lights on the original work’s provenance and popularity:
"I have introduced, as a memorial of that friendship, a shade, from the life of these illustrious friends, which are universally allowed to be excellent likenesses, a circumstance that was my principal inducement for giving them a place in this work. I was favored with this curious relique, by a gentleman, who is possessed of the original shade, taken near forty years ago, which is nearly double in size to that I have laid here before the public."
UNKNOWN
A Set of Silhouettes, c. 1890
Paint, ink, paper, board, and tape
Gift of Mrs. Frank Screven, OT1961.42
While this scrapbook page featuring six profiles may not appear particularly remarkable at first glance, it has a great deal to say about the social practice of silhouette cutting, the participation of women in this realm, and the network of family and friends that gravitated around the Owens-Thomas House in the late 19th century. This piece was found in the personal effects of Elizabeth Stiles Screven, a close friend of Margaret Thomas. Thomas, who lived in the Owens-Thomas House from 1871 to 1951, bequeathed her home and the adjacent carriage house to Telfair Museums in 1951.
It is likely that the women depicted here, many of them friends or family who moved in the same circles, cut each other’s profiles as a social activity. Each silhouette features the personal signature of the individual depicted; from right to left, top to bottom: Margaret G. Thomas, Isabella Harrison (Mrs. Steven Mayo), Mary Savage Jones (Mrs. Clarence Anderson, who was related to the Owens, Thomas, and Telfair families), Elizabeth Haskell (Mrs. Alexander Thesmar, Margaret’s cousin), Elise M. Huger (Mrs. Robert C. Harrison, a friend), and Maud Thomas (Margaret’s sister).
RIGHT
UNKNOWN
Untitled Silhouette, n.d. (19th century)
Ink on paper, wood, and gilt
Bequest of Florence Hale Cantacuzene, 1985.6.66.2
LEFT
UNKNOWN
Untitled Silhouette, n.d. (19th century)
Ink on paper, wood, and gilt
Bequest of Florence Hale Cantacuzene, 1985.6.66.1
These anonymous profiles are examples of painted silhouettes (as opposed to cut-out or hollow-cut, which utilize paper). Despite their orientation and identical framing, it is unclear if these portraits represent a couple, family members, or were meant to hang together. Indeed, the silhouettes exhibit differing styles. Whereas the man’s shade was ornamented with care—defined strands of hair curl around his head and delicately rendered glasses rest on his nose—the woman’s portrait appears more rudimentary in comparison. Bearing fewer identifying marks, her profile displays a simplified use of white accents coupled with broader, less refined strokes.
Frames such as these oval gilt armatures, oftentimes sold by the artist at the time of the silhouette’s cutting, were elegantly topped with finials (acorns, flowers, and other variations). These framed profiles were typically displayed in the sitters’ home, as one would display family photographs today.
JANET TAYLOR PICKETT (AMERICAN, B. 1948), WITH PRINTERS ROBERT FRANKLIN (AMERICAN, 1930–2012) AND MAURO GIUFFREDA (AMERICAN, BIRTH DATE UNKNOWN)
Hagar’s Dress, 2007
Offset lithograph
Museum purchase in honor of Courtney McNeil with Telfair Museum of Art acquisitions endowment funds, 2021.7.6
This lithograph is among a series of works by Janet Taylor Pickett that deal with the Middle Passage (the route by which African captives were transported across the Atlantic) through depictions of silhouettes and dresses. The artist explained the title of this piece and its significance:
“Hagar was the ‘slave’ woman that begat Abraham a child because his wife Sarah was unable to conceive. (…) What Hagar represents to me is the [inspiration], spirit, struggle, and creativity in survival. For me the dress also symbolizes the beginning and the carrying on of one’s history.”
Through this depiction of silhouettes, Pickett references the famous diagram by British abolitionist William Elford that exposed the inhumane conditions enslaved people endured on ships that traversed the Atlantic. The print shows how 487 Africans, depicted as repeating silhouettes wearing nothing but undergarments, were packed into various parts of slave ships to maximize traders’ profit. The print was widely circulated, generated an uproar, and aided abolitionists in their work. Indeed silhouettes, through their propensity to reduce individuals to select traits, proved particularly effective because they helped show how humans were being treated as cargo.
WILLIE L. TARVER (AMERICAN, 1932–2010)
Old Abe/Telfair, 2000
Metal, gold paint, and worn red felt
Gift of Willie L. Tarver, 2018.17
Georgia-born Willie L. Tarver was a welder by trade, often creating works out of scrap metal and concrete. This piece honors the “Great Emancipator,” here depicted with his iconic beard and affectionately dubbed “Old Abe.” Tarver fashioned the outline of Lincoln’s profile through raised metal reliefs in the shape of dots.
Since the late 18th century, artists frequently depicted illustrious individuals such as presidents, authors, artists, and entertainers in profile. In part, this is because silhouette makers realized that viewers were familiar with celebrities’ most iconic facial features—understood to be best communicated through the profile—and would derive pleasure in recognizing those distinguishing traits. By representing an American president in profile and highlighting Lincoln’s beard, Tarver continued this tradition. Although using metal instead of black paper, he relied on two key aspects of silhouette portraiture: an economy of materials and signifying forms.
MARCUS KENNEY (AMERICAN, B. 1972)
Soldier, 2003
Mixed media
Gift of Arthur Bennett Kouwenhoven, Jr., 2009.19.38
Savannah-based artist Marcus Kenney is known for his use of non-traditional materials such as taxidermy, neon, and human hair, as well as found materials like this silhouette of a soldier holding a rifle. Kenney, who discovered the cut-out in a school building in Louisiana, incorporated the found object into a paper collage of his own design. He recalled: “The Iraq War began in late March of 2003 and [I] made that in response to the invasion. It was of course the follow up to [the] September 11 attacks.”
Reflecting on the silhouette, Kenney cited its emotional qualities—as an object most likely crafted by a child or schoolteacher—and its usefulness—as a premade material allowing for a “shortcut” in the artmaking process. In this, the artist highlights the continued relevance of the profile cut-out, as well as some of its enduring artistic qualities: its expediency and affective powers.
BETSY CAIN (AMERICAN, B. 1949)
mountain marsh men, 1996
Pages of National Geographic magazines
Gift of Arthur Bennett Kouwenhoven, Jr., 2009.12.15
In her paintings and cut-outs, local artist Betsy Cain frequently returns to the topic of the marsh—its colors, light, grasses, pluff mud, and reflective waters. She describes her work as “a primordial soup,” a reference to the organic compounds that accumulated in bodies of water on Earth that some have theorized were the source of the first living systems. In her mountain marsh men, the silhouetted figures are portrayed as primitive shadows, dark shapes erupting from the fertile soil.
Through the rods sticking out of their feet, this work notably recalls the thick wire or iron rods used in shadow puppet theater, a precursor to silhouette art that has been traced back to the 1st millennium BCE in Central Asia and India. By alluding to the ancient art of storytelling, the artist further associates her silhouetted figures to the distant past, as well as the earliest forms of artmaking and narration.
KARA WALKER (AMERICAN, B. 1969) WITH PRINTER, MAURICE SÁNCHEZ (AMERICAN, B. 1945), AND ARION PRESS (PUBLISHER)
Porgy & Bess, 2013
Book and lithographs
Museum purchase with funds provided by the Gari Melchers Collectors’ Society in honor of Courtney McNeil, 2021.13.1.a-b, 2021.13.2.1-4
In her Porgy and Bess libretto and lithographs, Kara Walker expresses the enduring appeal and fraught history of George Gershwin’s most celebrated opera. Debuting in 1935, Porgy and Bess is set in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina. It tells the tragic love story of a Black vagrant, Porgy, as he relentlessly attempts to save the woman he loves, Bess, from a host of dangerous men.
Although the first Porgy and Bess libretto (the text of an opera or other musical theater) was produced by DuBose Heyward, there is no fixed text and various librettos for the opera exist. While intended as a libretto, Walker also considers this work to be an artist book. Indeed, no detail was left to chance—from the individual pages that were hand-sewn into the volume to the choice of calico cloth (“reminiscent of fabric used by the Black women of Charleston, South Carolina, in the period, a pattern of triangles that recalls hurricane flags”).
Walker was introduced to Porgy and Bess while growing up in Stockton, California. As a child, she noticed that her mother had a special understanding of the opera that she could not yet grasp. This observation sparked a lifelong journey of feeling “caught up in the piece,” its “heavy atmosphere hanging around a timeless act of love.” The book and lithographs are an homage to the feeling of the songs, the complex history behind the production and reception, and the heartbreaking love story that has captivated Walker and audiences for generations.
KARA WALKER (AMERICAN, B. 1969) WITH PRINTER, MAURICE SÁNCHEZ (AMERICAN, B. 1945), AND ARION PRESS (PUBLISHER)
LEFT TO RIGHT
Porgy and Crown, superimposed; Porgy and Bess, embracing; Strawberry Woman; Sailboat in Storm, 2013
Lithographs on Somerset paper
Museum purchase with funds provided by the Gari Melchers Collectors’ Society in honor of Courtney McNeil, 2021.13.2.1-4
These lithographs were made in conjunction with the Porgy and Bess libretto. In these prints, Kara Walker has superimposed the profiles of hero (Porgy) and antagonist (Crown, Bess’ violent lover), as well as singled out key moments in the story like the deadly hurricane in act 2 and the couples’ vigorous embrace as they affirm their love.
Walker is renowned for her paper silhouettes of the antebellum South that subvert the delicacy and respectability of the art form. Here, the artist revisits the profile, creating shadowy figures that emphasize the role of the art form in conveying stereotypes. She explained:
“They [Porgy and Bess] are archetypes beyond the grand opera theme of ‘star crossed lovers’; they’ve become archetypes of another no less grand drama, that of: “American Negroes drawn up by white authors, and retooled by individual actors, amid charges of racism, and counter charges of high-art on stage and screen, in the faces of social and political upheaval over generations.” Because they are fraught, I chose to simply let them be paper cut-out caricatures whose full dimensions are alluded to by rubbing.”
By rubbing, the artist gestures to the method of creating lithographs, which requires various stages of rubbing and pressing; in this, she also suggests that the laborious, chemical process of lithography lends itself to the necessary interrogation, unpacking, and excavating of the multi-layered history that hides beneath the outlines.