I'm not even going to pretend to be sophisticated and say "inexpensive." I will be the first to say that I am always looking for a cheaper way to get the desired end. A few week's ago, I returned home from a Pennsylvania trip with several yard sale items, an old salvaged window, and about six or seven vintage frames that I acquired after an enjoyable jaunt of bargaining with the local junk dealer. They have all now been lovingly transformed into useful or decorative items in my home - on the cheap!
Frenchman Etienne de Silhouette lived from 1709-1767. At that time, the word silhouette was exclusively known as a surname. While most of use have never heard of Etienne, we have heard of the word silhouette - 1. a two dimensional representation of the outline of an object, as a cutout or configurational drawing, uniformly filled in with black, especially a black paper; 2. the outline or general shape of something; or 3. a dark image outlined by a lighter background. The question remains, how did the two get connected? Here's the answer.
Etienne de Silhouette served a very brief stint as France's Controller-General of Finances in 1759. At that time, France was in the middle of a war and needed to "trim the budget," so to speak. In an effort to do so, Etienne began his short career by taxing the then exempt royalty and church by collecting monies on any objects that represented wealth. Even though he employed numerous budget belt tightening methods, this one, needless to say, caused his popularity to be short lived. But although his career didn't last long, his name certainly did.
The term a la Silhouette was coined during Etienne's "reign" to refer to the cheapest way of doing something. At the same time, a new and on the cheap art form was erupting. Artists were selling miniature cutouts or pictures of profiles using black paper. These were very quickly created and cheaply sold in place of the much more pricey and time consuming painted portraits. This new art was a simple way for all classes of people to have a "photograph." The wealthy saw this art form as cheap and beneath them - a la silhouette. The term stuck and officially lost its surname status and became a regular word in 1798. We've been calling this art form a silhouette ever since.
These artistic, classic outlines remained a favorite well into the 20th century but most sources say that their popularity was never the same after the invention of the camera. I beg to differ!
Sources
dictionary.com
etymonline.com
britannica.com
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