Silhouette of a Woman

Artist: Mahc Beau

• Print type: Lambda Gloss
• Print dimensions: 60cm x 40cm (small) 84cm x 62cm (medium)
• Signed Edition Quantity: 15
• A complimentary framed poem and perfume candle for this picture are included in the sale offer.
• Price includes framing (white mount & a slick black wooden frame)

The Story that inspired Silhouette of A Woman. 

“To the woman who cast her shadow over me, thank you for your darkness and light.”                                                                                                         

A man is walking alone through a department store and in passing the fourth concession he stumbles across a woman that he finds rather beautiful. Stunned by her beauty, he returns to the store occasionally to observe her while pretending to be a customer. Months went by, and she did not notice how frequently he visited but treated him nicely when she saw him. Naturally owing to the volume of the various interests that have been expressed in her over the course of her life - she’s quite aware that she is attractive yet her behaviour and mannerism were seemingly more beautiful.

Eventually, the man finds the courage to introduce himself as an artist. He asks the woman nervously if he could take a picture of her, in a series of work that he intended to publish. He was a novice and tried to hide this but she could see right through him. Yet without hesitancy and even a little enthusiasm she agrees. 

Several months later, they met for that small but well planned photo shoot. He had promised to pay her a handsome fee for her commitment to his project. However, she refused to collect the fee when they met because she felt that he needed the money more than she did. He could barely afford to pay her although he pretended to, but she had not asked anything of him or expected him to pay her. She gave of herself freely and wanted nothing in return.

She was his first work of art, his first gleam of hope in his artistic pursuits, and he could not share with her what that moment meant to him. The photo that he took is the silhouette of the woman in question, nothing of her face is known, but she is more beautiful to him that way.

He wanted to keep her intact and show her to the world as he knew her, and did not want the viewer to make criticisms or comparisons that would undermine her beauty. It wasn't just her exterior but her interior. It wasn't just her light but the warmth of her shadow. She was as beautiful to him in the darkest of night as she was in the brightest of day. She was beautiful then. And now. The artist’s work aimed to eternalise her beauty and so, he does not illuminate her figure. We don't see her and yet it is her, because he wants the audience to see her through his eyes.

This piece was Beau’s first work and inspired one of his favourite quotations: "Beautiful things do not seek for attention. They hide so we can seek them. And we find them because they are beautiful."

©Mahc Beau