Silhouettist
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silhouettist.bsky.social
Silhouettist
@silhouettist.bsky.social
170 followers 350 following 190 posts
Silhouette artist and collector of old silhouettes, fascinated by art and shadows. I'm posting a series of antique silhouette portraits, mostly by unknown artists.

To have me cut your own silhouette, choose a date at:
https://www.silhouettist.com/dates
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silhouettist.bsky.social
Silhouettist @silhouettist.bsky.social · Feb 20
This is me. I've been making silhouettes (as well as collecting and writing about them) for over thirty years. For most of that time I've earned a living cutting silhouettes at events and parties. During lockdown I began making them over Zoom. My blog is here: www.roving-artist.com/last-silhoue...
silhouettist.bsky.social
Out today is this episode of The Variety podcast, in which Adam Sternberg interviews me about my life and work as a silhouettist.
youtu.be/HcfrIVQ7mtg?...
Charles Burns on royal silhouettes, Covent Garden origins, and the art of performing with scissors
YouTube video by The Variety Show
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 3:49 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
This I was working with One Aldwych to realise their dream of a Xmas Tree covered in #JaneAusten characters. The unveiling was this morning! So happy to see them all in place.
Four silhouettes on a tree branch at the bar. Tree in the foyer at One Aldwych Silhouette of Fanny Price in the tree. Silhouettes on a shelf.
November 9, 2025 at 3:42 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Silhouette cut by Claude Marin, Place du Tertre, Paris, 1920s. Like all Montmartre silhouettists today, Marin never stuck his silhouettes to the card, but supplied them loose in a glassine envelope. I'm not sure why. It seems risky when head and body are connected by just a tiny sliver of paper!
Cut black-paper silhouette of a young man with a white shirt and tie. The silhouette is supplied with a glassine envelope, behind, and printed backing card saying: PARIS – BUTTE MONTMARTRE, Claude Marin Silhouette of a young man with a white shirt collar in the badly-yellowed glassine envelope in which it was supplied. The silhouette is cut by Claude Marin and the artist's name is just visible bottom right. Silhouette of a young man, by Claude Marin, lifted away from its backing card (the silhouette was never glued to this card). The silhouette has a sharp eyelash, typical of this artist's work; a cut-away white collar, cut from the front; and a lapel line, cut from the back. Head and body are joined by a sliver of paper just 2mm wide.
October 27, 2025 at 1:57 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Looking at antique silhouettes it isn’t immediately apparent what fun they are. Yet, their “entertainment value” is the reason I’ve been making a living cutting silhouettes for over 30 years. #corporateentertainment
October 26, 2025 at 12:14 AM
silhouettist.bsky.social
The relationship between silhouettists and photographers has been a long a fascinating one.
October 20, 2025 at 9:05 AM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Silhouette of me cut by my friend Steve Abbott on Llandudno Pier during filming of Silhouette Secrets in 2014.
www.roving-artist.com/silhouette-s...
#silhouetteportrait #silhouettesecrets #papercutting
Silhouette of a man with peaked hat and curly hair facing right in a maple-wood frame. Under the silhouette the artist added the inscription: "Best wishes. Llandudno Pier, 2014, Steve Abbott"
October 20, 2025 at 8:57 AM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Cutting a silhouette the same way it’s always been done: freehand with a pair of scissors. #silhouettecutting
October 14, 2025 at 10:29 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Here's a recent project of mine: create an English print-on-demand version of a small book by the German silhouettist, Anna Corsep. The original was published in Leipzig in 1909. It's an interesting addition to the scant literature on silhouette portraits.
www.lulu.com/shop/anna-co...
Silhouette
Silhouette artist, Anna Corsep (1862–1943) published her slim, quirky volume about Silhouettes in 1898. The book has never been published in English until today. This new edition has been carefully tr...
www.lulu.com
October 12, 2025 at 7:41 AM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Recently arrived silhouette by Claude Marin, cut in Montmartre in the 1930's or 40's. The silhouette and backing card are kept loose in a glassine envelope, so you can turn the cutting over to see the white. #montmartre #claudemarin
Silhouette of a girl with beret and long pony-tail, facing left on a cream-coloured card. The caption at the bottom reads "PARIS – BUTTE MONTMARTRE, Claude Marin". The white, reverse side of a silhouette of a young girl, held between thumb and forefinger away from its backing card.
October 5, 2025 at 2:29 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Gebhard Wagner began his career as a #silhouettist cutting these evocative portraits of beer drinkers at the Munich #Hofbrauhaus. Here is a blog I wrote about him after visiting it last month.
www.roving-artist.com/silhouette-c...
Please Raise a Glass to Gebhard Wagner
When collecting old silhouettes, every so often I come across something which stops me in my tracks. “I wish I’d thought of that!” I say to myself. This is what happened when I first came across the…
www.roving-artist.com
September 27, 2025 at 9:35 AM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Arrived this morning from a seller in Kiev, Ukraine. Can anybody help me read the inscription? Don't know who the artist is, but can see that it was cut in 1987, a few years before the breakup of the USSR.
Large silhouette of a man with collar and tie, facing right on a plain postcard. I've photographed it together with the envelope in which it arrived, covered in many Ukrainian stamps. At the bottom of the card is a short inscription in gold ink. I can't read it, apart from the ending: 1987z (year 1987).
September 16, 2025 at 11:11 AM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Stonor Park is home to a unique collection of 18th- and 19th-century silhouettes. Next week, Lady Ailsa Camoys will lead a private tour of both the house and the silhouette collection, at the end of which I'll make a silhouette for everybody present.

www.stonor.com/events/an-ev...
An Evening of Silhouettes at Stonor Park - Stonor
www.stonor.com
September 15, 2025 at 9:21 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
The address 111 Strand, London, is important in the history of silhouette art. It's the location of the legendary Miers & Field studio, which set the standards for others to follow in the late eighteenth century.
www.roving-artist.com/history/john...
John Miers’ Legendary Studio at 111 Strand
JOHN MIERS is one of my favourite artists. I find there is still much to be learned about the art of painting silhouettes from studying his work. He worked from a studio at 111 Strand, London…
www.roving-artist.com
August 21, 2025 at 6:08 AM
silhouettist.bsky.social
One of my favourite silhouettes by Battista Baj. Cut from black paper with scissors in the 1900s, probably in Italy, with some shading added in pencil. The cutting of the wing collar and spectacles is really great.
Silhouette of a man with beard and moustache facing left on a plain card. He has small, round spectacles and is wearing a cloth cap, wide neck tie and white, wing-collar shirt. Underneath is the artist's stamp: Baj.
August 19, 2025 at 6:57 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Self Portrait by Anna Cosep, a German silhouettist and paper cutter who published a short book called "Die Silhouette" in 1898. A second edition came out in 1909, which I've been creating an English translation of with the help of ChatGPT and DeepL. Fascinating project!
Plain black silhouette of a woman facing left. Underneath is a caption, printed in an old-style Fraktur font with a long S, which reads: Anna Corsep. Selbstporträt.
August 12, 2025 at 6:19 AM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Here's a fascinating photograph of a French silhouettist at work in the 1890s or 1900s. The artist is possibly M. Silvar. His signboard reads:

Portraits Silhouettes
CARTES POSTALES
3 pour 0,30

It sounds like a good deal!
www.roving-artist.com/history/did-...
Photograph of a French silhouettist posing by his signboard. He has one foot on a stool and is holding scissors and paper in his hands, while staring straight at the camera with a rather haughty expression. His signboard, at the centre of the photo, is covered in small silhouettes, each on a postcard, with the price clearly displayed in the middle. To the right of the board is a woman, looking rather quizzically at the camera. Behind the artist stands a boy who appears to be waiting in line for a silhouette, perhaps the first in a long queue. Behind the signboard are passers by and the various stalls of what might be a local town fête.
August 8, 2025 at 4:36 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Very small silhouette cut from shiny black paper by an unknown artist in 1860. It looks like a plain black profile, but if you turn the silhouette to the light, you can see details of hair an clothing pressed into the paper. I believe these were made using a stylus on the back of the paper.
Half length silhouette of a man with a white shirt on a tall, thin card. Set against the thank-you note and envelope it arrived with. Under the silhouette is a hard-to-read caption in written blue ink: "rasen (?) Theodor Stein em 1860" Detail of the same silhouette showing how details of hair and clothing appear when the card is angled to catch the light.
July 28, 2025 at 3:59 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Arrived this morning, cut by an unknown artist (I think in the 1920s) and mounted onto a blank Dutch postcard. I particularly like the way the artist cut the wing collar. He has one of the smallest cut eyelashes I've ever seen.
Silhouette of a man with wing collar and tie, facing left on a plain card, shown with the envelope and packing slip with which it arrived
July 21, 2025 at 10:32 AM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Did Monsieur Silvar ever really exist? He was one of the most prolific 1900s silhouettists in Paris, yet the only clue to his name is this silhouette, on which the sitter wrote in French:
"My silhouette, made by Mr Silvar, silhouettist at the Olympia, Paris."
www.roving-artist.com/history/did-...
Silhouette of a man with boater hat facing right. Above, somebody has written: Ma silhouette faite par M. Silvar Silhouettiste á "l'Olympia" à Paris. The card is stamped and postmarked on the front. Under the silhouette the sitter has added his signature and the date: 3 août 1907.
July 18, 2025 at 4:43 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Silhouette signed A.M. Arassen. This is in a friend's collection and is the only Arassen silhouette either of us has ever seen. Reverse includes the inscription: E. Hayner, Eversley, June 1924. It's a tantalising glimpse of work by an unknown talented, probably professional artist.
Silhouette of a man with a. long beard facing right on a blank, English postcard. The silhouette is cut from black paper and highlighted in white ink to indicate details of hair, collar and beard. Unusually, there is no bustline: the silhouette ends at the bottom with the straight edge of the paper. It is signed very small, lower right: a. m. arassen.
April 6, 2025 at 7:05 AM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Page of silhouettes from one of my silhouette duplicate albums. Each cut with scissors. #silhouette #blueskyartshow
18 silhouette portraits cut from white paper and mounted on dark blue
April 5, 2025 at 11:00 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Silhouette by Jen Handrup working in London’s DH Evans department store in the 1900s. Cut in two parts with collar details added in grey watercolour and hat details in white crayon. #dhevans #handrup #arthistory
Silhouette of a woman with a large feathered hat facing left on a plain card.
March 10, 2025 at 12:18 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Happy Day! Just arrived, this pair of silhouettes by the well-known African-American silhouettist E.J. Perry, probably cut at Coney Island in the 1900s. This essay by Eric Washington tells more: www.gothamcenter.org/blog/ej-perr...
#ejperry #blackhistory #arthistory #silhouetteportrait
Two silhouettes of men, each facing right on separate printed postcards. The cards each have the same printed, decorative border. At the bottom is the caption: "Ye Olde Tyme Silhouette by Perry". Both men have hats and beards and are wearing white shirt and tie. One shirt has a wing collar.
March 7, 2025 at 12:20 PM
silhouettist.bsky.social
Another by the inimitable Harry Oakley, cut with scissors, probably in a department store in the 1920s or 30s. I love his sensitive, one-line, full-length silhouettes.
#arthistory #silhouetteportrait #harryoakley
Full-length silhouette of a girl in school uniform facing right on a plain card, set in a heavy oak frame. Her hands are clasped behind her back and her head is inclined down slightly. Bottom left is the artist's stamp: H.L.OAKLEY
March 6, 2025 at 11:13 AM