Auguste Edouart Self-Portrait

Auguste Edouart is best known for his elegant, hand-cut, full-length profile portraits that he made as he traveled the United States between 1839 and 1849. He emigrated from France by way of England and Scotland, bringing with him sophisticated ideas about portraiture.

Earlier silhouettes in America had been almost exclusively bust portraits and had begun to go out of fashion almost everywhere, but Edouart’s unmatched skill and attention to detail earned him the reputation as the most well-respected silhouettist of his time. Using embroidery scissors, he typically cut silhouettes by observing his sitters and moving the paper as much as his scissors, with his paper always folded to make duplicates.

Edouart created this timeless image that links him to the learned traditions of Greece and Rome. He chose to depict himself in classical garb with long curls and a beard, with white highlights to add definition and suggest gray hair.