Auguste Edouart

Auguste Amant Constant Fidèle Edouart (1789–1861) was a French-born portrait artist who worked in England, Scotland and the United States in the 19th century. He specialized in silhouette portraits.

Portrait of August Edouart, 19th century

Biography

Born in Dunkerque, he left France in 1814, and established himself in London, where he began his career making portraits from hair. In 1825, he began work as a silhouette portraitist, taking full-length likenesses in profile by cutting out black paper with scissors. Edouart spent fifteen years touring England and in 1829 arrived in Edinburgh. He remained there for three years, during which time he produced some 5,000 likenesses.[1] Edouart travelled in the United States in about 1839–49, visiting New York, Boston, and other locales. He later returned to France. where he worked on smaller silhouettes. They included one of the most notable writer of this period, Victor Hugo.[2][3][4]

Portraits

Edouart created portraits of hundreds of subjects, including:

  • Jane Anderson; Esther Ainslie; Helena Anderson; Mrs Arkley; Charles Atherton (National Portrait Gallery, London)
  • Cut Silhouette of Four Full Figures, 19th century (Brooklyn Museum)
  • Colin Gibb and Charles Gibb, 19th century (Brooklyn Museum)
  • H.W. Longfellow, 19th century
  • Abbott Lawrence and family, no.5 Park St., Boston, 19th century

Collections

Works by Edouart reside in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, London; National Galleries of Scotland; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork; New York Historical Society;[14] Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Historic New England; and the American Jewish Historical Society, New York.

Exhibitions

The Art of the Silhouette in 19th-century Cork, which included works by Edouart, Stephen O’Driscoll (c.1825-1895), and miniature portraits of members of the Crawford Family, was held at Crawford Art Gallery, Cork in 2015.

"Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now", which included works by Edouart, Moses Williams, and others, held at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C. May 31, 2018 to March 10, 2019, and the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham AL, September 28, 2019 to January 12, 2020.

References
  1. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 2010-09-05
  2. Victor Hugo in Guernsey; Canadian Art Publications; Date: January 26, 2011
  3. Ethel Stanwood Bolton. Wax portraits and silhouettes. Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1915. Google books
  4. New York Herald; Date: November 23, 1844
  5. Historic New England. Retrieved 2010-09-05
  6. Museum of Fine Arts Boston collections Retrieved 2010-09-05
  7. "Connell, John, David, Arthur and Mrs. Approx. 5 ½" x 8" cut by August Edouart in Glasgow, June 10, 1832. Reproduced for the Boston Evening Transcript. Sat. Nov. 4, 1939." American Antiquarian Society Archived September 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2010-09-05
  8. National Galleries Scotland Archived June 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2010-09-05
  9. Nevill Jackson (Jan 1912). "Some men of letters in silhouette". The Bookman.
  10. Flickr. Retrieved 2010-09-05
  11. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, April 1912, p. 560
  12. Mack and Mack. Like a sponge thrown into water: Francis Lieber's European travel journal of 1844-1845. University of South Carolina Press, 2002
  13. Smithsonian. Retrieved 2010-09-05
  14. NY Historical Society. Retrieved 2010-09-05

Further reading
  • Edouart. A Treatise on Silhouette Likenesses by Monsieur Edouart, Silhouettist to the French Royal Family, and patronized by His Royal Highness, the late Duke of Gloucester and the principal Nobility of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 1835
  • The Man Who Saved His Life by Giving His Body for Dissection. Barre Gazette (Massachusetts); Date: 03-28-1845
  • Andrew W. Tuer. Art of Silhouetting. English illustrated magazine. 1890. Google books
  • Alice Van Leer Carrick. Shades of our ancestors: American profiles and profilists. Little, Brown, and Company, 1928. Google books
  • Andrew Oliver. Auguste Edouart's Silhouettes of Eminent Americans, 1839-1844. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977
  • Penley Knipe (1999). "Shades and Shadow-Pictures: The Materials and Techniques of American Portrait Silhouettes".
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