Silhouette Art by Master Silhouette Artist Cindi Harwood Rose

Silhouette Art by Master Silhouette Artist Cindi Harwood Rose

                Classically, the solid form of an object, or the contour of a recognizable form, filled in with opaque color is often called a silhouette.  We normally think of this shape as a shadow- like form.  However, when one looks up what a shadow is, it is a distortion from blocked light.  When an individual looks at his own shadow, or one of another person, it rarely really looks like them.  Jung said the shadow was the ego, however, he was not referring

to the visual shadow, but to the debris of the mind.

                As a natural artist, who discovered the fine art of hand-cutting silhouettes from sight, by accident, I have contemplated why silhouette artistry, once called shades of the past, is as popular hundreds of years ago as it is today. I also know why this art can’t be taught, it is very difficult to master, and the artist really needs to be born with this talent.   I have discussed this topic with international renown silhouette art historian and collector, Peggy McClard, who has the best history of silhouette art on-line.   She is fascinated with the lives silhouette artists have led, and what compels them to do this unique art, when all of them are accomplished fine artists, who can paint and sculpt on a professional level.  When an accomplished silhouette artist is asked this question, they can’t explain the magic they feel when performing the art. It is quick, and it connects them with others. One of the great silhouette artists explained that water coloring was calming, and oil painting was sensual, but silhouette art in the authentic manner of viewing a person or object, and merely directly cutting or carving a likeness from thin black paper, was empowering. This rings true for my soul as well. The work of silhouette cutting, still amazes me, and delights others at many events that I do my work, regardless if it is for royalty, or a peasant, life comes out from my hand-cut artworks.  This silhouette work is in demand at business events, gifting suites, premiers, weddings, gift and children’s stores, and for fund-raisers for schools and non-profits.

                Since I was almost 16, I stumbled upon this lost art at an amusement park, where I had been hired to do watercolor and pastel portraits.  I had always felt “different” and could not stop drawing or trying to model people and objects from clay since a child.  The quiet time, made me happy.  When I drew portraits it took quite a long time, and normally, no artist is 100 percent satisfied with their works, which was my case.  Other people would rave about my art, but I always felt it was not complete.

                I remember a school teacher at 8, took a projector, and traced my shadow on to crude construction paper, and then cut it out, and it was awful!  I also noticed that most of her children she cut out looked a bit crude, and had odd expressions, such as an open mouth, and a little double chin.  My mother, a superb artist, threw it away, and I was glad. However, when I saw the sophisticated man in the amusement park that I was to do portraits in, look at someone and just cut out their exact likeness in a few minutes, I asked the art manager, to let me try.  He actually laughed, since he had 27 portrait artists employed, but had to fly this silhouette artist in from Paris, since good silhouette artists are scarce.  At my first attempt, the park manager, exclaimed it was extraordinary—for some reason, it was spot-on.  He immediately fired the other artist, and told me I was to be the silhouette artist.  Then on, the shy person I was, felt a passion in life.  Black and white became yin/yang, it was all about light, and happiness.

                Forty years later, I still adore doing silhouette paper profiles.  Cut art, Paper cutting, feature carving, psychic physiognomy profile snips, all are ways to describe what being a master silhouette artist means to me.  When I am next to a person, I go inside them for a minute, to decide where they are going in their lives, how to interpret them as more than their features, and then incorporate this into my silhouette of them.  Some of my works are simple, some complex. I was also told that the word, master silhouette artist, refers to any real silhouette artist, who has worked at least one year, and has the ability to earn a living with the art.

It is also noted, that many of the few living silhouette artists (usually no more than 38 in the entire world at a given time) do old-fashioned work, or can’t do groupings, or can’t do interior details, some do trite work.  All, however, find great satisfaction, in preserving a lost art, and giving people heirlooms and keepsakes to last generations to come.  For more information contact Peggy McClard and purchase Mrs. E. Nevill Jackson’s book, Silhouettes, A History and Dictionary of Artists or British Silhouette Artists and their Work by Sue McKechnic. There is a world of information on the history of silhouettes and silhouette artists at SilhouettesbyCindi.com and SilhouettesbyCindiblogspot.