"Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now"
We were informed that "silhouettes—cut paper profiles—were a hugely popular and democratic form of portraiture in the 19th century, offering virtually instantaneous likenesses of everyone from presidents to those who were enslaved."
The purpose of this exhibition is to explore "this relatively unstudied art form by examining its rich historical roots and considering its forceful contemporary presence. The show features works from the Portrait Gallery’s extensive collection of silhouettes, such as those by Auguste Edouart, who captured the likenesses of such notable figures as John Quincy Adams and Lydia Maria Child, and at the same time, the exhibition reveals how contemporary artists are reimagining silhouettes in bold and unforgettable ways."
My favorite work was the children dancing around a maypole. This installation occupied the entire room. The figures did not look like one-dimensional silhouette figures but were full of life and having lots of fun.
a detail of the maypole installation
Here are two other examples of silhouettes.
- There were also several amazing adaptations of the silhouette technique. The artists used minimal pieces of paper, shined a light on them, and suddenly an image appeared like the woman sitting on the chair below and the profile appeared when the light bounced off the letters and numbers, and the multiple profiles appeared when one fountain of light hit each one of the fourteen pieces of paper. Amazing! Magic!
- "Diane Arbus: A Box of Ten Photographs" Arbus was the artist responsible for convincing the art world that photography was an art.
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