The Art of the Shadow

Shadows

Today, while scrolling down my twitter home page, I was wondering in the back of my mind what the hell I am going to do for this project. It wasn't too pressing of an issue since we have all weekend to do it (I'm a procrastinator), but the perfect thing popped out at me on twitter. 

Ta-da! Shadow Art. It is amazing how one can turn a pile of garbage into an original work of art. I would say that it doesn't get much more creative then that. As it turns out, shadow art has been around for a long time. Shadow art potentially dates back to prehistoric times when humans were drawing stories on cave walls (Severn 4). An ancient Chinese legend says that shadow entertainment first came about when a great emperor beheaded his jester in a moment of rage. He regretted it after because he missed the jester's jokes. He ordered magicians and shamans to bring the jester back to life, but they couldn't do so. Instead, they used the skin of a fish to cut out the shape of the jester's body and used it to cast a shadow on a screen to put on a show for the emperor (Severn 1).

The first clocks (called sundials) were made from a stick's shadow. The first images were printed because of shadows cast onto a large canvas. Shadows revolutionized art and paved the way to the invention of the first cameras. "The use of concave mirrors and portable lenses brought about the making of box cameras, not to take lasting pictures, but to capture a scene and reduce it in size so it could be traced or copied by hand drawing", (Severn 5). The ability to capture shadows and light onto a canvas combined with the fact that shadow art has been providing entertaining shows for people since ancient times led to the first films and the first cartoons, (Severn 9). Shadows are both entertaining and functional.

Shadow art has been around for a long time providing entertainment for people of all ages. Humans have always been interested in their shadows because we all have one. Shadow art was used in many ancient societies like Chinese, Egyptian and Greek, (Severn 6). It was also used as entertainment during the Medieval times, Victorian period and the Dark Ages. (Severn 6). It is an inexpensive and fun way to connect with our oldest ancestors. All you need is some make-shift props, a sheet to hang from the ceiling and a lamp. You can make figures with your hands or dress up as someone famous. The possibilities for your show are endless! 

Bibliography

Severn, Bill. Shadow Magic the Story of Shadow Play. New York, NY: David Mckay, 1959. Print.

@LearnSomething."Amazing Shadow Art". 4, April 2014. 11:06 pm. Twitter