Silhouette, before it was word, was a last name! A birthday celebration for the English journalist who revolutionized the field. Poem by Longfellow.
The date is July 5th, Friday, and today is my last day in La Serena, Chile.
Today is the birthday of Étienne (EH-tien) de Silhouette, a notoriously cheap Comptroller-General of finances under King Louis XV in 1759. As the head of France’s finances he was in charge of pulling the nation out of a mound of debt. He did so by taxing the wealthiest citizens, curtailing the spending habits of the Royal family, and reforming state pensions.
Although his methods were more or less effective, they earned de Silhouette a reputation for being a cheap, penny-pincher. He lasted 8 months in the position before gracefully ‘retiring.’ French citizens began to refer to things that were austere or cheap as à la Silhouette.
Happening at the same time as de Silhouette’s cut-rate reputation was a rise in popularity of shadow profiles cut from black paper. It was popular as an affordable alternative to spendy and elaborate painted portraits or miniatures. The wealthier members of society of course labeled the artform as low-brow and obviously à la Silhouette. Over time, silhouette became synonymous with the artform. The word ‘silhouette’ is still used as the name for the artform, though the artform itself is less common these days.
The word silhouette has also evolved to refer to a shadow or outline of a shape. Such as the silhouette of a tree on the horizon or of an attractive person.
And today is the birthday of W. T. Stead, English pioneer of investigative journalism.
William Thomas Stead was born in Northumberland, England in 1849. The son of a respected reverend and an educated and active mother. His father worked to make sure Stead, Jr. was well prepared for school, giving him reading lessons in English and Latin.
Stead’s mother was a strong-willed woman and her robust moral center certainly influenced Stead’s own world view. Stead fondly recalled how his mother organized a protest in their town, advocating for change in a new government policy.
In 1880, at the age of 34, Stead took over as editor for the newspaper at The Pall Mall Gazette. As the editor of The Pall Mall Gazette, Stead was the first to regularly incorporate diagrams, maps, and snappy headlines in big fonts to break up large blocks of text.
He kept the newspaper’s focus on social and political issues and was not afraid to go ‘undercover’ in order to reveal a corrupt system or institution.
In 1885, Stead published “The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon,” exposing the child prostitution circuit in London. It was a three-part series with lurid details in a tone of “thunderous moral outrage.” The sheer gall of the explicit details sent copies flying off the shelves and lead to a change in the lawful age of consent from 13 years old to 16 years old.
Stead used journalism as a means to elicit change in government policy throughout his career and encouraged other newspapers and journals to do the same.
He was active as a journalist and speaker until his sudden death during the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
Hymn to the Night
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow