Silhouette

A silhouette is the dark shape or outline of something or someone visible against a lighter background.

The word silhouette comes from the French finance minister Etienne de Silhouette. The term “à la Silhouette” was used to refer to art that was perceived as cheap, to mock de Silhouette, who practiced art as a hobby.  Shadows cut from black paper were popular at the time, and these were seen as being cheap, so they were referred to as silhouettes, which stuck.

Kara Walker uses black paper to make modern silhouette art to tell a story.