silhouette: a two-dimensional representation of the outline of an object, as a cutout or configurational drawing,uniformly filled in with black
Origin: The word 'silhouette' first appeared in print in England in 1798, and is from the French word silhouette, which was/is the word adopted by the French to describe a dark shape against a lighter background. The French word silhouette seems to have been taken from the surname of Monsieur Étienne de Silhouette(1709-67), the minister of fiance in France, 1759.
Kara Walker’s work is steeped in the subject of race. Her precise and often exaggerated drawings of facial features, body shapes, and costume use line and form to signify the ethnicity of her subjects and comment on the way race is used to define us. Her use of the 18th-century form of the silhouette is both an ironic and complex way to address these issues, since the paper Walker uses to cut out most of the images for her wall murals is black. This material eliminates the need for her to create skin tones and effectively renders all of her figures “black.” For these pieces, as well as her watercolors and drawings, the racial status assigned to her characters is visible through stereotype and caricature.
