Silhouettes have been around since cave man days. They became especially popular as an art form in the early 1700's, slowly fading away as photography became the mode for capturing an image.
The English called them "shades." Their popularity was established by 1720, and spread to France, where they picked up the name silhouette (see below) and then to the United States later in the century.
The word silhouette comes from a reportedly unlikable gentleman by the name of Etienne de Silhouette. Silhouette, a Frenchman who was a finance minister to the Duke of Orleans was certainly not the originator of this type of art, but the French were very impressed by his work and they came to refer to all works of this type by his name.
The first silhouettes were painted from an individual's shadow, later other methods were developed, some quite complicated. But, the truly gifted silhouette artists were seemingly ancestors of Edward Scissorhands (kidding) and quite literally cut the image out freehand. Silhouette portraits are usually black cutouts, which are then pasted onto a light colored background. Occasionally they are reversed with the cutout in white on a black background.
Today I scanned some old family pictures and while looking for something in a box found a couple of silhouettes. These are of my great-grandparents, Lucien B. Martin and Mary Emma Martin. The date is 1885 and I like to consider how and where they might have had these made. They were about 35 years old at the time (1885). The cards have yellowed with age, they might have originally been white.
Click to see them larger.
ETA - OK, here is my feeble attempt at a Clay silhouette.
Again, clickable
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