Explorations of an artistic genre by Charles Burns
Through his various artistic research projects, Charles has devoted himself to experimenting with the silhouette as an artistic genre
“When researching my book “Mastering Silhouettes” I was struck by the huge range of media and technique used by silhouettists of the past. People assume silhouettes were always cut from paper. Yet, I found historical artists who, cut, painted and embellished their silhouettes using media as diverse as gouache, enamel, glass, ivory, soot and gold leaf. Some artists worked freehand (as I do) while others relied on a weird variety of pseudo-scientific contraptions.
From that moment forward I resolved to devote my artistic explorations to pushing the genre of the silhouette portrait in new directions, using as wide a variety of media and technique as I can.“
Recoleta Cemetary
Ink and watercolour on paper, detail of the Argentina Sketchbook
Angry Sky
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30" (Internal Landscape series)
Artist and Model
Ink and pencil on scissor-cut paper
Ladys Shaw (IIL1)
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30", part of the Internal Landscapes series
Blue Trees and Yellow Field
Oil on Canvas (detail from Internal Landscape series)
Blue Trees and Pink Sky
Oil on Canvas (detail from Internal Landscape series)
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30" (part of the internal landscape series)
Clouds Over Farm
Oil on Canvas (detail from Internal Landscape series)
Moulsford (IL8)
Internal Landscape VIII, oil on canvas, 40" x 30"
Crowsley Park
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30", (Internal Landscape series)
Crowsley Park
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30", (Internal Landscape series)
Profile of Sarah
Etruscan Silhouette, painted as an experiment for Mastering Silhouetes
Watch Folly (IL2)
Garden view, oil on canvas, 40" x 30"
Girl with Curly Hair
Painted on glass, showing the shadow behind
Girl with Curly Hair
Glass frame holding a simple bust-length cut silhouette
Crowsley Park
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30" (Internal Landscape series)
Pink Sky at Crowsley Park
Oil on Canvas (detail from Internal Landscape series)
Man in Green Hat
Enamel on glass, about 5" x 3.5"
Green Head with Stripes
Mixed Media collage (untitled)
Hollow painted Profile
Enamel on glass with needle-scratched border
Internal Landscapes
Two paintings of Crowsley Park at the GRA Exhibition, John Lewis, 2019
Juggler on Unicycle
Cut paper collage in two colours
Ladys Shaw
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30" (framed on an easel)
Life -Size Silhouettes
Cut from paper with a large pantograph
Moulsford: IL IX
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30", a view of Moulsford in Oxfordshire
The Saxophonists
Cut-paper collage, musician silhouettes against a photographic background. A modern take on the conversation piece?
Nor Long to Wait
Paper-Cut Poem (IG collaboration with Judge the Poet)
Ladys Shaw
Oil on canvas, on an easel, part of the internal landscape series
Crowsley Park in Orange
Oil on Canvas (detail from Internal Landscape series)
Orange Head
acrylic Ink on A2 paper
Painted Caricature
Watercolour on paper
Peter Furtado
Portrait of a Historian, cut paper collage - frontispiece of Mastering Silhouettes
Moulsford (detail)
Oil on Canvas, detail from Internal Landscape series
Adrian Silas
Cut paper silhouette
Puc
Girl Holding a Violin, cut paper collage (three colours on black)
Purple Sky
Detail from Crosley Park (Internal Landscape series)
oil on canvas
Yellow Rape Fields
Each Folly, oil on Canvas (detail from Internal Landscape series)
Collection of full-future silhouettes in red frames
Cut black paper: these kind of poses can only be made from photographs
En-grisaille Portrait
Graphite on scissor-cut white paper
Shade of a shade
Painting on glass make interesting shadows
Shadowgraph screen
An candlelight experiment in early forms of silhouette photography
Evening Air
Cut paper silhouette on a photographic backdrop
White Airplane Trails
Detail from Internal Landscape series, oil on canvas
Violet at the LSC
White ink on scissor-cut black paper
Girl Holding a Violin
Collage - work in progress - an arrangement of paper
Watch Folly
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30" (Internal Landscape II)
Angry sky
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30", framed on an easel
Colour Silhouettes
Cut paper: these kind of poses can only be made from photographs
White Shawl
A Winter Bride, enamel on glass with needle-scratched border
Moulsford (detail)
Part of the Internal Landscape series (red underpainting shows through in many places)
We intend this gallery as a simple visual showcase. However, many of the artworks illustrated here available to buy, either as prints or original paintings. Do get in touch if interested.
What is a silhouettist?
At it’s simplest, a silhouette is an outline, usually filled in with black; essentially a shadow.
Yet, throughout history*, silhouettists have never been satisfied with this most severe of artistic limitations. They have always sought to push the limits between silhouettes and portraiture, and Charles Burns continues this tradition. He does this both in his artistic explorations and in his range of commissioned silhouettes.
However, it is a dilemma. Many people value silhouettes precisely of their austere simplicity. So do they really need to much variation?
Of course, the two approaches are not exclusive. It is perfectly possible for one artist to continue to produce the most elegantly simple of silhouettes (as Charles does, routinely at his studio days and various appearance s at events) and yet continue to explore the wider implications of the silhouettist’s art.
Charles is constantly driven by his yet unanswered question:
