出典(authority):フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』「2017/07/17 02:58:07」(JST)
「シルエット」のその他の用法については「シルエット (曖昧さ回避)」をご覧ください。 |
シルエット(フランス語: silhouette)は、輪郭の中が塗りつぶされた単色の画像のこと。影絵と同義に見なされる場合もある。
もともとは18世紀ヨーロッパに起った、黒い紙を切り取って人物の横顔を表現した切絵に対して用いられた言葉で、そこから明るい背景に対して事物が黒く塗りつぶされて見えるような光景や、物の形そのものを言い表す語として用いられるようになった。服飾では、着装時の服の輪郭や、服そのもののデザインを言い表す語として使われている。
表現技術としてのシルエットは様々な芸術分野で使用されており、黒い切絵による伝統的なポートレイトもまた21世紀となった現在も作られ続けている。
「シルエット」の語は、フランス王ルイ15世の財務大臣エティエンヌ・ド・シルエットに由来する。当時フランスは七年戦争が長引いたことで財政難に陥っており、シルエットは特に富裕層に対して厳しい倹約を要求しなければならなかった[1]。写真が登場するまでは、切絵によるシンプルな肖像が人物の特徴を記録する最も安上がりな方法であり[2]、彼はこれを好んだため、このような肖像画、さらには安上がりで済ますことが人々の間で「シルエット」と言われるようになった。
エティエンヌの父はフランス領バスクのビアリッツ出身で、「シルエット(Silhouette)」という姓は、バスク語の姓 "Zilhueta" をフランス語形に直したものである。バスク語でのより一般的な形は "Zuloeta" で、このうち "-eta" は「豊富な」を意味する接尾辞であり、"zilho"、 "zulo" は「穴」を意味する。この場合「こうもりの巣」を意味する可能性もある。
シルエットは視覚芸術の一形式であり、伝統的には横顔のポートレイトを黒い影によって表現する[3]。横顔が描かれるのは、それが顔の骨格につよく依存しているため、老化や体重の増減、病気などによって変化することがほとんどないからである。横顔を用いた肖像自体は、古くは古代ローマ時代から貨幣に用いられてきた。ルネッサンス時代には横顔による肖像画が流行し、ロレンツォ・デ・メディチなど多数の著名な人物が横顔による肖像画に描かれている。
シルエットによるポートレイトは絵具を用いても制作可能であるが、伝統的には黒色の薄いカードを顔の形に切り取って、白などの明るい色の下地に貼ることによって作られる。専門のシルエット作家の場合、しばしば観客の前で数分間のうちにポートレイトを切り取って見せる[3] 。また注文主に横顔の写真を送ってもらい、それをもとに製作することもある[2] 。
18世紀ドイツの観相学者ヨハン・カスパー・ラヴァーターは自著において人間の顔のタイプを分類するのにシルエットを使用しており、これがシルエットを広めるきっかけになったと考えられる[4]。なおラヴァーターの友人でもあったゲーテはシルエットを好み、『若きウェルテルの悩み』では主人公ウェルテルが思いを寄せる女性シャルロッテのシルエットを作るくだりがある。18世紀の最も有名なシルエット作家であるアウグスト・エドワード(August Edward)は何千枚もの精巧なポートレイトを制作したが、その多くは船の難破事故のために失われてしまった[5]。イギリスでもっともよく知られているシルエット作家であるジョン・ミアーズ(en:John Miers)はロンドンのストランドにスタジオを構えつつも、各地を旅行し様々な土地で作品を制作した[6] 。
アメリカ合衆国ではシルエットは1790年代から1840年代にかけて流行し、カメラが登場するまでは肖像技法として広く用いられていた[2]。シルエットの技法は現在にも受け継がれており、各地を旅しながらシルエット制作を行なっている作家が20世紀まで存在した。その後シルエットは新しい世代から、重要な出来事を記念する上でのノスタルジックな技法として再評価を受けており、アメリカではシルエット作家がウェブサイトを設けて、結婚式や広告などに使用するシルエットの制作を請け負ってもいる[2] 。
イギリスでは活動中のシルエット・アーティスト集団が存在する[3]。オーストラリアではS.ジョン・ロス(en:S. John Ross (artist))が60年にわたり農芸展覧会などの場でシルエット制作をして見せていた[7]。ダグラス・カーペンターなどの作家はペンとインクを使用してシルエットを制作している[8]。
18世紀末より、シルエットは肖像だけでなく出来事や物語の一場面を表現する手段としても用いられるようになった。19世紀においてこのような技法を好んだ作家にハンス・クリスチャン・アンデルセンがいる[9] 。またロバート・ライアンはしばしばシルクスクリーンを使って複雑なシルエットを制作している[10] 。
19世紀末から20世紀初頭にかけて本の挿絵などに、複雑なイラストレーションよりも安価で容易な方法としてシルエットが用いられた。この頃にシルエットを制作したイラストレーターにはアーサー・ラッカムやウィリアム・ハース・ロビンソンなどがいる。20世紀末にはJan PienkowskiやJan Ormerodなどのイラストレーターがシルエットを使用しており、21世紀以降ではKara Walkerがこの技法を用いて人種問題を取り扱ったイラストレーションを制作している。
写真の分野では人々や事物、風景の一部を逆光に当ててシルエットにする技法がしばしば用いられる。 逆光は日暮れや開け放たれた戸口から入る自然の光の他、スタジオで人工的に作る場合もある。
シルエットは多くの映像作品でドラマティックな演出として使用される。例えばジェームズ・ボンドの映画で用いられるオープニング・クレジットなどが該当する。また歌手グループのミュージックビデオなどにも使用されており、近年ではipodのコマーシャルに、ipodをつけて踊る人物のシルエットが使用された。
「シルエット」は輪郭を含意する言葉であるために、ファッションやフィットネスの分野ではスタイル・体型を言い表す言葉として使われている。これらの分野の広告ではしばしば人々、特に女性たちに対し、コルセットやダイエット、エクササイズによって理想的な「シルエット」を得るよう呼びかける。この分野の広告では20世紀初頭のヨーロッパで「シルエット」の言葉が使われ始めた。
服飾研究家の間では衣服を着用した際の輪郭を示す言葉としても用いられており、各時代のファッションを比較しその変化を言い表す際に用いられている。ある時代において望ましいとされるシルエットは様々な要因から影響を受ける。ヨーロッパでは1850年代から60年代にかけてクリノリンが女性のシルエットを決定していた。アレクサンドラ・オブ・デンマークの特徴的な姿勢はエドワード朝の女性たちのシルエットに影響を与えた。左の広告画像を参照のこと。
シルエットは視認しやすいため、素早い認識の必要な様々な分野でも用いられる。道路標識のほか、都市や国を有名なモニュメントや地形のシルエットで表現したり、木や虫などの自然物の存在をシルエットで表現して知らせたりする。
船舶や戦闘機、戦車などの軍事利用される乗り物のシルエットは、兵士達の視認訓練に用いられる。
テレビ番組で使用されるインタビューでは、インタビューされる人物を匿名性を保つためにシルエットで隠すことが行なわれ、多くの場合は声も合成音声が使用される。
ジェイン・オースティンのシルエット(18世紀)
ベートーヴェンの少年時代のシルエット(18世紀)
ハインリヒ・ハイネのシルエットを使用したドイツの切手。
人類の進化を表現するシルエット。
道路標識にはしばしばシルエットが用いられる。
安全拾得器の案内(駅プラットホーム)。
キプロス共和国の国旗にはキプロス島のシルエットが使われている。
著名なモニュメントはしばしばそのシルエットによっても知られている。
ウィキメディア・コモンズには、シルエットに関連するカテゴリがあります。 |
A silhouette is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single color, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the whole is typically presented on a light background, usually white, or none at all. The silhouette differs from an outline, which depicts the edge of an object in a linear form, while a silhouette appears as a solid shape. Silhouette images may be created in any visual artistic media,[1] but was first used to describe pieces of cut paper, which were then stuck to a backing in a contrasting colour, and often framed.
Cutting portraits, generally in profile, from black card became popular in the mid-18th century, though the term silhouette was seldom used until the early decades of the 19th century, and the tradition has continued under this name into the 21st century. They represented a cheap but effective alternative to the portrait miniature, and skilled specialist artists could cut a high-quality bust portrait, by far the most common style, in a matter of minutes, working purely by eye. Other artists, especially from about 1790, drew an outline on paper, then painted it in, which could be equally quick.
From its original graphic meaning, the term silhouette has been extended to describe the sight or representation of a person, object or scene that is backlit, and appears dark against a lighter background. Anything that appears this way, for example, a figure standing backlit in a doorway, may be described as "in silhouette". Because a silhouette emphasises the outline, the word has also been used in the fields of fashion and fitness to describe the shape of a person's body or the shape created by wearing clothing of a particular style or period.
The word silhouette is derived from the name of Étienne de Silhouette, a French finance minister who, in 1759, was forced by France's credit crisis during the Seven Years' War to impose severe economic demands upon the French people, particularly the wealthy.[2] Because of de Silhouette's austere economies, his name became synonymous with anything done or made cheaply and so with these outline portraits.[3][4] Prior to the advent of photography, silhouette profiles cut from black card were the cheapest way of recording a person's appearance.[5][6]
The term silhouette, although existing from the 18th century, was not applied to the art of portrait-making until the 19th century. In the 18th and early 19th century, “profiles” or “shades” as they were called were made by one of three methods:
The silhouette is closely tied in mythology to the origins of art. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (circa 77–79 AD) Books XXXIV and XXXV, recounts the origin of painting. In Chapter 5 of Book XXXV, he writes,
“We have no certain knowledge as to the commencement of the art of painting, nor does this enquiry fall under our consideration. The Egyptians assert that it was invented among themselves, six thousand years before it passed into Greece; a vain boast, it is very evident. As to the Greeks, some say that it was invented at Sicyon, others at Corinth; but they all agree that it originated in tracing lines round the human shadow [...omnes umbra hominis lineis circumducta].“. In Chapter 15, he tells the story of Butades of Corinth:
For the depiction of portraits, the profile image has marked advantage over a full-face image in many circumstances, because it depends strongly upon the proportions and relationship of the bony structures of the face (the forehead, nose and chin) making the image is clear and simple. For this reason profile portraits have been employed on coinage since the Roman era. The early Renaissance period saw a fashion for painted profile portraits and people such as Federico da Montefeltro and Ludovico Sforza were depicted in profile portraits. The profile portrait is strongly linked to the silhouette.
Recent research at Stanford University indicates that where previous studies of face recognition have been based on frontal views, studies with silhouettes show humans are able to extract accurate information about gender and age from the silhouette alone.[9] This is an important concept for artists who design characters for visual media, because the silhouette is the most immediately recognisable and identifiable shape of the character.[10]
A silhouette portrait can be painted or drawn. However, the traditional method of creating silhouette portraits is to cut them from lightweight black cardboard, and mount them on a pale (usually white) background. This was the work of specialist artists, often working out of booths at fairs or markets, whose trade competed with that of the more expensive miniaturists patronised by the wealthy. A traditional silhouette portrait artist would cut the likeness of a person, freehand, within a few minutes.[11] Some modern silhouette artists also make silhouette portraits from photographs of people taken in profile.[5] These profile images are often head and shoulder length (bust), but can also be full length.[12]
The work of the physiognomist Johann Caspar Lavater, who used silhouettes to analyse facial types, is thought to have promoted the art.[13] The 18th century silhouette artist August Edouart cut thousands of portraits in duplicate. His subjects included French and British nobility and US presidents. Much of his personal collection was lost in a shipwreck.[14] In England, the best known silhouette artist, a painter not a cutter, was John Miers, who travelled and worked in different cities, but had a studio on the Strand in London.[15] He advertised "three minute sittings",[16] and the cost might be as low as half a crown around 1800. Miers' superior products could be in grisaille, with delicate highlights added in gold or yellow, and some examples might be painted on various backings, including gesso, glass or ivory.[17] The size was normally small, with many designed to fit into a locket, but otherwise a bust some 3 to 5 inches high was typical, with half- or full-length portraits proportionately larger.
In America, silhouettes were highly popular from about 1790 to 1840.
The physionotrace apparatus invented by Frenchman Gilles-Louis Chrétien in 1783-84 facilitated the production of silhouette portraits by deploying the mechanics of the pantograph to transmit the tracing (via an eyepiece) of the subject's profile silhouette to a needle moving on an engraving plate, from which multiple portrait copies could be printed.[18][19] The invention of photography signaled the end of the silhouette as a widespread form of portraiture.[5]
The skill was not lost, and travelling silhouette artists continued to work at state fairs into the 20th century. The popularity of the silhouette portrait is being reborn in a new generation of people who appreciate the silhouette as a nostalgic way of capturing a significant occasion. In the United States and the UK silhouette artists have websites advertising their services at weddings and other such functions.[5][20] In England there is an active group of silhouette artists.[11][21] In Australia, S. John Ross plied his scissors at agricultural shows for 60 years until his death in 2008.[22] Other artists such as Douglas Carpenter produce silhouette images using pen and ink.[23]
Since the late 18th century, silhouette artists have also made small scenes cut from card and mounted on a contrasting background like the portraits. These pictures, known as "paper cuts", were often, but not necessarily, silhouette images.[24] Among 19th century artists to work in this way was the author Hans Christian Andersen.[25] The modern artist Robert Ryan creates intricate images by this technique, sometimes using them to produce silk-screen prints.[26]
In the late 19th and early 20th century several illustrators employed designs of similar appearance for making book illustrations. Silhouette pictures could easily be printed by blocks that were cheaper to produce and longer lasting than detailed black and white illustrations.
Silhouette pictures sometimes appear in books of the early 20th century in conjunction with colour plates. (The colour plates were expensive to produce and each one was glued into the book by hand.) Illustrators who produced silhouette pictures at this time include Arthur Rackham and William Heath Robinson. In breaking with literal realism, artists of the Vorticist, Futurist and Cubist[27][28] movements employed the silhouette. Illustrators of the late 20th century to work in silhouette include Jan Pienkowski and Jan Ormerod. In the early 1970s, French artist Philippe Derome uses the black cut silhouette in his portraits of black people. In the 21st century, American artist Kara Walker develops this use of silhouette to present racial issues in confronting images.[29]
Originating in the orient with traditions such as the shadow theatres of Indonesia, the shadow play became a popular entertainment in Paris during the 18th and 19th century. In the Paris of the late 19th century, the shadow theatre was particularly associated with the cabaret Le Chat Noir where Henri Rivière was the designer.[30]
Since their pioneering use by Lotte Reiniger in silent films, silhouettes have been used for a variety of iconic, graphic, emotional, or conversely for distancing, effects in many movies. These include many of the opening credit sequences of the James Bond films. The opening sequence of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents features a silhouetted profile of Alfred Hitchcock stepping into a caricatured outline of himself, and in his movie Psycho the killer in the shower scene manifests as a terrifying silhouette. A scene from E.T. showing the central characters on a flying bicycle silhouetted against the full moon became a well-known movie poster. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 contains an animated sequence in silhouette illustrating a short story The Tale of the Three Brothers that is embedded in the film. The sequence was produced by Ben Hibon for Framestore, with artwork by Alexis Lidell.
Silhouettes have also been used by recording artists in music videos. One example is the video for "Buttons" by The Pussycat Dolls, in which Nicole Scherzinger is seen in silhouette. Michael Jackson used his own distinctive silhouette both on stage and in videos such as "You Rock My World". Early iPod commercials portrayed silhouetted dancers wearing an iPod and earbuds.
The cult television program, Mystery Science Theater 3000 features the three main characters of the series watching a movie as silhouettes at the bottom of the screen.
The discipline of architecture that studies the shadows cast by or upon buildings is called Sciography.
The play of shadows upon buildings was very much in vogue a thousand years ago as evidenced by the surviving examples of "mukarnas" art where the shadows of 3 dimensional ornamentation with stone masonry around the entrance of mosques form pictures. As outright pictures were avoided in Islam, tessellations and calligraphic pictures were allowed, "accidental" silhouettes are a creative alternative.[31][32]
Many photographers use the technique of photographing people, objects or landscape elements against the light, to achieve an image in silhouette. The background light might be natural, such as a cloudy or open sky, mist or fog, sunset or an open doorway (a technique known as contre-jour), or it might be contrived in a studio; see low-key lighting. Silhouetting requires that the exposure be adjusted so that there is no detail (underexposure) within the desired silhouette element, and overexposure for the background to render it bright; so a lighting ratio of 16:1 or greater is the ideal. The Zone System[33] was an aid to film photographers in achieving the required exposure ratios. High contrast film, adjustment of film development,[34] and/or high contrast photographic paper may be used in chemical-based photography to enhance the effect in the darkroom.[35] With digital processing the contrast may be enhanced through the manipulation of the contrast curve for the image.[36]
In media the term "to silhouette" is used for the process of separating or masking a portion of an image (such as the background) so that it does not show. Traditionally silhouettes have often been used in advertising, particularly in poster design, because they can be cheaply and effectively printed.
The word "silhouette", because it implies the outline of a form, has been used in both fashion and fitness to describe the outline shape of the body from a particular angle, as altered by clothing in fashion usage, and clothed or unclothed where fitness is concerned, (e.g. a usage applied here by the Powerhouse Museum. Advertising for both these fields urges people, women in particular, to achieve a particular appearance, either by corsetry, diet or exercise. The term was in use in advertising by the early 20th century. Many gyms and fitness studios use the word "silhouette" either in their name or in their advertising.[37]
Historians of costume also use the term when describing the effect achieved by the clothes of different periods, so that they might describe and compare the silhouette of the 1860s with that of the other decades of the 19th century. A desirable silhouette could be influenced by many factors. The invention of crinoline steel influenced the silhouette of women in the 1850s and 60s. The posture of the Princess Alexandra influenced the silhouette of English women in the Edwardian period. See advertisement left.
Because silhouettes give a very clear image, they are often used in any field where the speedy identification of an object is necessary. Silhouettes have many practical applications. They are used for traffic signs (see pic below). They are used to identify towns or countries with silhouettes of monuments or maps. They are used to identify natural objects such as trees, insects and dinosaurs. They are used in forensic science.[38]
Silhouettes of ships, planes, tanks, and other military vehicles are used by soldiers and sailors for learning to identify different craft.
For interviews, some individuals choose to be videotaped in silhouette to mask their facial features and protect their anonymity, typically accompanied by a dubbed voice. This is done when the individuals may be endangered if it is known they were interviewed.
Human silhouette targets are use for military, police and civilian firearms training.
NATO E-type Silhouette Target
Human silhouette target
A digital target range at the firearms training simulator on Kunsan Air Base waits to be used.
Swiss military targets
Metallic silhouette is a popular outdoor shooting sport using either rifles or handguns. In metallic silhouette shooting only knock down steel targets featuring animals are used.
Metallic silhouette targets featuring a chicken, pig, turkey and ram, scaled to appear as they would if placed at the correct distances from the shooter. Scale in minutes of angle, correct for NRA high power rifle using yards.
A traditional silhouette image of Jane Austen, 18th century
Beethoven as a boy, finely cut with details of hair and clothing, 18th century
The Mudflap girl is a common modern image on car mudflaps
Silhouette image representing human evolution
Traffic signs often use silhouettes. This sign warns that the road crosses a railway line.
The flag of Cyprus shows a map of the country in silhouette form. Countries are often identified by silhouette maps.
A silhouette of the Statue of Liberty in New York. Monuments are often identified by their silhouettes.
St. Peter's Basilica at sundown (view from Castel Sant'Angelo)
Rumination
Below Bethesda Terrace
Relaxing at a Japanese temple
Barack and Michelle Obama watching fireworks
Walpurgis night
Lined up for sunset
The Silent
Sunset at al Masjid al-Nabawi
Still water at dusk
Cambodia at sunset
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Silhouettes. |
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リンク元 | 「心陰影」 |
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