Silhouette

Silhouette

A silhouette is a view of some object or scene consisting of the outline and a featureless interior, with the silhouette usually being black. The word is an eponym named after Etienne de Silhouette, a finance minister who in 1759 imposed such harsh economic demands upon the French people that his name became synonymous with anything done or made cheaply .

Etymology

The family name Silhouette is a Frenchified form of a Basque surname, Zilhueta; Arnaud de Silhouette, Etienne's father, was from Biarritz in the French Basque Country; this surname, whose Standard Basque or Batua form is Zuloeta, contains the suffix "-eta" "abundance of" and "zilho", Batua "zulo", "hole" (possibly here meaning "cave").

In art

A silhouette is a form of artwork. It is most commonly a human portrait in profile, in black. They do not show any facial expression. Silhouettes are most often made by a skilled silhouette artist by looking at a subject's profile, whether in person or from a photograph, and simply cutting out their likeness freehand.Fact|date=February 2007

Two hundred years ago, long before the camera was invented, someone wishing to have an inexpensive portrait created of their loved ones would have visited a silhouette artist. Within minutes and using only a pair of scissors and a skillful eye, he would have produced a little image with a remarkable resemblance to his subject.Fact|date=February 2007In America, silhouettes were highly popular from about 1790 to 1840. The invention of the camera signaled the end of the silhouette as a widespread form of portraiture. However, their popularity is being reborn in a new generation of people who appreciate the silhouette as a nostalgic and unique way of capturing a loved one's image.fact|date=December 2007

In popular culture

Silhouettes have been used in many of the opening credit sequences of the James Bond films, where girls dancing in silhouette appear to be naked.

Silhouettes have also been used by recording artists in music videos. One example is the video for "Buttons" by The Pussycat Dolls, in which Nicole Scherzinger is seen showing her body as a silhouette.

Early iPod commercials portrayed silhouetted dancers wearing an iPod and earbuds.

The TV series "Mystery Science Theater 3000" used the main characters in silhouettewhen they were shown watching the movie in the "movie theater."

The famous opening sequence of the television series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" features a silhouetted profile of Alfred Hitchcock stepping into a caricatured outline of himself.

Military usage

Silhouettes of ships, planes, tanks, and other vehicles used by the military are used by soldiers and sailors for recognition purposes. See Jane's Fighting Ships, aircraft recognition.

In graphic design

To silhouette is to separate (mask) a portion of an image so that it does not show. For instance, a background.

In journalism

For interviews, some individuals choose to be videotaped in silhouette to mask their facial features and protect their anonymity, typically accompanied by a dubbed voice. This is done when the individual may be endangered if it is known they were interviewed.

ee also

* Contre-jour
* Mudflap girl
* Kara Walker

External links

* [http://www.papercutters.org GAP] Guild of American Papercutters
* cite web |publisher= Victoria and Albert Museum
url= http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/paintings/miniatures/types/silhouettes/index.html
title= Silhouettes
work=Paintings & Drawings
accessdate= 2007-08-21


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • silhouette — [ silwɛt ] n. f. • 1788; à la silhouette 1759; de Silhouette, ministre des Finances en 1759 1 ♦ Vx Portrait de profil exécuté en suivant l ombre projetée par un visage. ♢ Ombre projetée dessinant nettement un contour. 2 ♦ Forme qui se profile en… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Silhouette — (frz. „Umriss“) bezeichnet: Umriss, im Allgemeinen die Kontur eines Körpers Schattenriss, in der bildenden Kunst eine (vor allem figürliche) Umrisszeichnung Skyline, die Höhengestalt einer Stadt in der Mode die durch Kleidung geformte Körperlinie …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Silhouette — es un término francés que significa «silueta» y que puede referirse a: Silhouette: una isla situada en el archipiélago de las Seychelles; Silhouette: un personaje ficticio de historieta; Silhouette: un sistema genérico de juego de rol; Silhouette …   Wikipedia Español

  • Silhouette — Sf Umriß erw. fach. (18. Jh.) Onomastische Bildung. Entlehnt aus frz. silhouette Schattenriß , zu Etienne de Silhouette, einem französischen Generalkontrolleur und Minister. (Scherzhaft) so benannt als kostengünstige Variante von gemalten… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • silhouette — (n.) 1798, from Fr. silhouette, in reference to Étienne de Silhouette (1709 1767), French minister of finance in 1759. Usually said to be so called because it was an inexpensive way of making a likeness of someone, a derisive reference to… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Silhouette — Ne nous fions pas aux apparences, le nom commun silhouette remonte au XVIIIe siècle, et fait référence à Etienne de Silhouette, homme politique de cette époque (soit lui même dessinateur de silhouettes, soit victime de caricatures). Quant au… …   Noms de famille

  • Silhouette — Sil hou*ette , v. t. To represent by a silhouette; to project upon a background, so as to be like a silhouette. [Recent] [1913 Webster] A flock of roasting vultures silhouetted on the sky. The Century. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Silhouette — Silhouette: Die Bezeichnung für »Umriss‹linie›, Kontur«, in der bildenden Kunst für »Schattenriss, Scherenschnitt« ist aus gleichbed. frz. silhouette entlehnt. Das frz. Wort geht zurück auf den Namen des französischen Politikers Etienne de… …   Das Herkunftswörterbuch

  • silhouette — ► NOUN 1) the dark shape and outline of someone or something visible in restricted light against a brighter background. 2) a representation of someone or something showing the shape and outline only. ► VERB ▪ cast or show as a silhouette. ORIGIN… …   English terms dictionary

  • silhouette — [sil΄ə wet′] n. [Fr, after Étienne de Silhouette (1709 67), Fr minister of finance, in derogatory reference to his fiscal policies and to such amateur portraits by him, both regarded as inept] 1. a) an outline, esp. a profile portrait, made… …   English World dictionary

  • Silhouette — Silhouette, das Schattenbild eines Menschen, das entsteht, wenn dessen Umriß mit schwarzer Farbe ausgefüllt ist, in welche die innern Linien zuweilen mit weißen Strichen leicht hineingezeichnet werden. Der Name rührt von dem französischen… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

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