Curio: Seeing Silhouettes
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at 4:31PM Alexa here. Although they were an 18th Century craze, silhouettes are a familiar sight in our collective film memory (James Bond openers, Elliott and E.T., even Mystery Science Theater 3000). Cut paper silhouettes that harken back to the history of the medium are making a crafty comeback, so it seems silhouette designs are popping up everywhere from posters to porcelain. Here are some particularly nice backlit movie icons that follow the trend.
Jack and Rose, Jack and Sally, Hiccup and Toothless, handcut by Isabel Talsma.
A little Alfred Hitchcock, Jean Luc Godard and All About Eve after the jump...
All About Eve poster by Claudia Varosio.
Band of Outsiders tote, available here.
The Birds for tea time, available here.
Which iconic silhouette shots from the movies have stayed with you over the years?
Reader Comments (2)
It's crazy to me how instant recall occurs with silhouette. You'd think you'd need more visual details but i saw those first three silhouettes and i didn't even have to read the captions.
Isn't there also a scene in Sense and Sensibility where Kate Winslet is cutting out a silhouette of Greg Wise?
One of the most famous Hitchcock silhouettes is in Lifeboat. He always did a cameo in his films, but they couldn't put him on the lifeboat, so they had a newspaper with his silhouette used for a weight loss ad (I think).