Antique American Folk Silhouette from Collection of the Late Henderson Supplee

Peggy McClard Antiques

Americana & Folk Art

This wonderful and rare hollow cut silhouette is by the an anonymous American silhouettist whom I have dubbed the "Recycle Artist". This American folk artist always cut his or her whimsical three-quarter body length silhouettes into painted chairs. The chairs are always curved back wooden chairs with paint decoration and what appears to be upholstery between the side and top rails of the chair. I have seen less than fifteen silhouettes by this anonymous artist, including this one. I was lucky enough to acquire five recently from the same collection (although I believe that another young woman from the collection is done "after" the Recycle Artist--she will be listed today also). The Henry Luce Center Collection (a study center of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) owns a pair which is supposedly from Philadelphia and done in 1823. A single woman by this hand is illustrated in the book, A Loving Likeness American Folk Portraits of the Nineteenth Century, at page 56. This artist apparently always depicted his sitters in a paint decorated chair. All of the sitters that I have seen are holding books. Women have bonnets or combs and dress collars with watercolor embellishment. This was a "green" artist who practiced recycling. Although I found no obviously recycled materials in the five recently acquired silhouettes, the background paper of the previously sold man was a letter-press handbill that had been painted black. The background paper on the pair in my collection is hand-blocked wallpaper of which the artist painted the verso black. When the artist used fabric backing, he/she always used a minimum of fabric. Like many itinerant folk artists, the paper used by this artist was not the best quality which generally has resulted in darkening and acid staining where the paper has touched the wood backboard, be hit with too much ultraviolet light or kept in a house with a moist atmosphere.

Several points make this a highly desirable folk silhouette—it is by rare artist; is of an exceptional, whimsical style (just look at those wonderfully folky hands!); of a beautifully depicted attractive young woman (right down to her tiny, cut eyelash); done in a classically, creative American 1820s styling; includes an American paint decorated chair, book paint decorated to look like it has a leather cover, and folky painted hands, lace bonnet with yellow ribbons, ruffed collar, and salmon-colored shawl (this is the first brightly colored neck piece that I've seen by this artist). The paper has overall browning and a little waviness as you can see in the images. This artist often folded the bottom edge of the paper up, towards the front of the paper and the sides and top to the backside, as it is here. The frame is period but not original to this piece (this artist used a frame gilded with oil gilding as opposed to this lovely water gilding). Someone worked really hard to get the wood backboard into this frame....the backboard is split into two but has been pegged together and a male dovetail cut into the top to fit into a corresponding female dovetail carved into the rabbet of the frame. A 20th century child drew a fun superhero on the inside of the backboard with pencil (see images below). The silhouette came with early fabric backing which had some holes and had oxidized to a dark green where the ultraviolet light hit it through the hollow cuts of the silhouette (see images below). I have kept all original parts together--however, I slipped a sheet of 100% acid-free black paper between the silhouette and fabric and then slipped a piece of 100% acid-free acetate between the wood backboard and fabric. The acetate provides a lifetime acid-free barrier to protect the fabric and silhouette from the wood backing. The black paper provides a nicer look than the deteriorated fabric...but if you want the original fabric to show, you can always move it up behind the silhouette. Framed size is 8" x 6 5/8".

The work of this artist is extremely rare and highly desirable. Circa 1825.

(#5008) Sale Pending

Provenance: ex-Henderson & Mary Baker Supplee. Henderson Supplee Jr. ("Wooz") was the V.P., then President and ultimately Chairman of the Board of Arco. He was responsible for revitalizing Arco and played an important part in merging Arco into Atlantic Richfield Co. He graduated in the Princeton Class of 1926 and was married to his wife Mary Osborne Baker from 1928 until his death in 1992.

Scan of front of silhouette without backing

Scan of silhouette with original fabric

Scan of back of silhouette

Scan of fabric showing ghosting from ultraviolet light

Inside of backboard with child's superhero drawing.

Superhero

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