Craze for Silhouettes Grips European Nobility

When Etienne de Silhouette, Minister of Finance to Louis XV of France, tried to curb the reckless extravagance of the people of his time, he did not realize that in consequence he would be known to succeeding generations by the style of portraiture which was named in derision after him.

When, shortly before his death, King Edward allowed himself to be silhouetted by an unknown young artist he did not suspect that by so doing he was encouraging the revival of an art which had long lain dormant.

For London, and for the matter of that most of Europe, is at the present time in the grip of a tremendous enthusiasm over the silhouette. Conspicuous in this revival is a young American artist, still in his twenties, whose cunning scissors are kept busy shaping the features and figures of queens, duchesses and princesses from the capitals of Europe.

It all began in this way: A short time before his death King Edward paid a visit incognito to the American exhibition at Earl's Court in London. He paused before a showcase displaying silhouettes executed by an unknown young artist named Eaton Scotford and decided, with characteristic freedom, to enter the modest little studio and have a silhouette of himself made.

The youthful artist welcomed his visitor warmly, because business had been dull. He made an excellent likeness, which he handed to the gentleman. King Edward affected surprise when he saw it.

"Young man," he declared, "you have made me look like the King."

"Yes, the resemblance is great," replied the youth, with the intention of flattering his customer.

"Do you really think I look like him?" he was asked.

"Well, a trifle."

King Edward was amused, paid his bill and walked out. The young artist only realized afterward that he had made the first and last silhouette for which King Edward ever posed, but he soon came to understand the importance of the lucky incident, for his studio became a magnet for the English and European nobility, all anxious to follow in the footsteps of the King and to have their silhouettes made by an artist who had been patronized by the first gentleman in England.

The result is that Baron Scotford has made more paper portraits of the nobility than any artist alive. Among those who have sat for him are Queen Amelie of Portugal, Princess Victoria, Princess Duleep Singh, the Duchess of Somerset and Lord and Lady Bateman. Not only the nobility but the public at large has taken up the vogue and it has become a practice in society to invite Baron Scotford to parties to entertain the guests by making serious and humorous portraits of them. The work of this artist has aroused the admiration of connoisseurs. His portraits are lifelike and characteristic.

Baron Scotford was born in Kansas City in 1884 and studied art in Chicago, New York and Paris. It was while he was in Paris that he was deeply impressed by the possibilities of the art of scissor portraiture and he abandoned painting and applied all his training with a view to raising the art of silhouette to the level of painting and sculpture. He achieved almost instant success and made himself the most talked of artist in Paris by cutting silhouettes of famous personages at the top of the Eiffel Tower, using the view as a natural background.

Baron Scotford believes that the silhouette has advantages that the photograph lacks. For one thing it never fades and is imperishable. Furthermore it is suggestive without betraying too much, as does the ordinary photograph. It piques the imagination and gives an interest and a vibration to the line contours of the human figure which the camera cannot reproduce.