Americana & Folk Art

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This is a spectacular and extremely rare American folk silhouette....I can't believe I'm offering it for sale!  The gentleman has a hollow cut head and body (beneath the shirt front).  The shirt front is left uncut then fancifully embellished with watercolor details.  The ends of the gentleman's jacket sleeves are cut straight across...hands are not cut.  Instead the artist creatively painted the hands and the open book onto the background paper.  The man sits in a yellow wooden chair.  Additional watercolor embellishment adds height to the gentleman's hair.  I have seen eight silhouettes by this anonymous artist including this one.  I own four others (one pair and a older woman sitting at a table).  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 painted chair.  All of the sitters that I have seen are holding open books.  Women have bonnets or combs and dress collars with watercolor embellishment.  This was a "green" artist who practiced recycling!  The blacked paper he used in this silhouette is a printed broadside advertisement.  I've shown scans of both front and back of the paper below.  Because 19th century printing left a pressed impression in paper, the largest letters of the handbill show through on the blackened paper just a bit (see photos below).  The pair I have by the same artist has wallpaper recycled as the blackened paper.  When you view the photo below of the silhouette's verso, you will see that this artist added panache to the cutting of this gentleman's hair.  This feature takes this creative artist to a higher level than other American hollow cut silhouettists who used watercolor embellishment for hair.  The norm was to cut the man's head with a simple curve (making the sitter somewhat of an "egghead") then add shape with the watercolored hair.  This artist actually cut the shape of the sitter's hair then gave it even more panache with the watercolor.  I offer this silhouette because, unlike the other three, I bought it at a price that allows me to offer it to you for the same price range I paid for the others.  Jump at it.....I hate to see it go.....sometimes business requires selling things I'd like to keep.....plus, how many of these can I keep????  When you look at the price, remember that silhouettes by the Puffy Sleeve Artist, or the Red Book Artist are much more common than this artist and they would likely have an extra zero added to the price!  This silhouette is a very good value and is worthy of the most advanced collection.  The 6 1/2" x 7 1/2" frame is period and has a mustardy-pumpkin paint or paint wash.  It fits the folky feel of the silhouette perfectly.

(#4308)      Sale Pending

Verso of unframed silhouette

Verso of blackened background paper

Blackened background paper showing letters from printed handbill