Research - the Development Of The Silhouette Art Form.

Silhouettes, or shadow puppetry, is one of the oldest forms of art which was said to have been created some 2,000 years ago during the Han Dynasty era of Asia.

"A favorite concubine of Wu Emperor of the Han Dynasty died of illness; the emperor missed her so much that he lost his desire to reign. One day, a minister happened to see children playing with dolls where the shadows on the floor were vivid. Inspired by this scene, the smart minister hit upon an idea. He made a cotton puppet of the concubine and painted it. As night fell, he invited the emperor to watch a rear-illuminated puppet show behind a curtain. The emperor was delighted and took to it from then on. This story recorded in the official history book is believed to be the origin of shadow puppetry."


Since the discovery of shadow puppets it has become its own art form and developed in a variety of different ways to adapt to different audiences, the most common audience being children (average 2 - 6 years of age) however It has been used in the past for adult audiences in parts of varied comedy shows. 


So how have the use of shadow puppets evolved over time and in what ways does this art form attract different audiences?


Since its original form, shadow puppets have been included in a variety of shows and been used as a good form of unique entertainment for a range of audiences, for the younger audiences one of the most memorable uses of shadow puppetry was included in "Bear In The Big Blue House" of which a small section of the show would be a character (Shadow) telling a story through the use of silhouettes, as shown below. 

It was through this use of silhouettes that children could learn valuable lessons in a fun way and be taught new skills, in the video's case, potty training. This video is a good example of how shadow puppetry has evolved as the character Shadow is a digital silhouette whereas the actual story that is told uses cut out, more traditional silhouettes. 


This form has also been used to tell well known stories to children in a more exciting media to them other than being read to them, the clip shown below is from the show "Little Fables" and tells the story of the Lion and the Mouse. Unlike Bear In "The Big Blue House" however, Little Fables uses pure digital technology to create its characters as silhouettes. 

It is now more often than not that digital art is used to create these effects rather than traditional methods of doing so, however the same, if not more comical effect can be created using the human form alone. The next clip shows how one man, Raymond Crowe, can create an array of characters using nothing more than his hands, this video is also a good example of reaching with different audiences as the crowd he is performing for are adults. This is also suggested by forming a shadow of Louis Armstrong performing "What a wonderful World". (Younger audiences would most likely not understand the nostalgic value of this iconic singer.