The Art of the Silhouette offers people the opportunity to customise the walls of their home or business in surprising and engaging ways � find out more

Remarkably, the word 'silhouette' was originally coined because it was the name of the French King Louis XV's finance minister. He was considered incredibly mean as a result of the cuts he made to try and balance the books of the struggling French economy in the 18th century. Plus ca change!

The measures he took were only a temporary remedy, though, and the country erupted into revolution a mere twenty years after his death. The artistic technique known now known as the 'silhouette' was popular around that time as an inexpensive way for people to have their portraits done. As they were so cheap to produce they were called 'silhouettes', since this man's name had become synonymous with cutting costs by any means necessary.

A Perennial Fashion

Since those times, silhouettes have virtually never gone out of fashion. As a medium, it has often been favoured by grass-roots campaigners looking to easily print evocative material using only one colour. Nowadays they are still used by the military or on traffic signs since it is easy to produce instantly recognisable images using just the silhouette of an object.

A Modern Trend

American Artist Kara Walker has, in recent years, taken the art of the silhouette to new heights. Her work, often challenging and darkly explicit, shows just how versatile this medium can be. She has been voted by Time magazine as one of the top one hundred most influential people in the world in the category of artists and entertainers.

The Decorative Motif

Today the Art of the Silhouette offers people the opportunity to customise the walls of their home or business in surprising and engaging ways. At Brume, we have a wide variety of ready-made decorative wall-stickers of silhouettes.

Whether you would like a shadow companion in the form of a lovable dog or aloof cat or a set of riding cowboys or skateboarders for a child's room or a retail theme, it's amazing how powerful these simple images can be.

Customise, Customise, Customise!

If you are looking for a unique, custom-made design, we can help with that too. We are happy to produce individual pieces based on your inspirational design ideas. Thanks to artists like Kara Walker, who has perhaps done more than anyone to popularise the medium in modern times, it's easy to find a variety of design ideas online.

She, and others like her, have proven how the silhouette can evoke almost any human emotion. It can also be used in a purely informative fashion too, and all at a cost that dwarfs having original artwork in almost any other medium.

Who'd have thought a French accountant from nearly three hundred years ago would have lent his name to what is arguably the world's most versatile and practical kind of artwork? I'm sure he would be shocked to find how his name has made it into art galleries worldwide and is also a lighting technique in cinema, particularly in black and white films.

It seems appropriate since the art of the silhouette is the very essence of doing more with less. We're sure he would approve. :-)