Autographed silhouette of Carroll McComas by Beatrix Sherman, the sitter was a singer, Broadway star, and early television actress. This is an early silhouette. circa 1920 Paper silhouette, with cardboard backing 12" x 8" backing

Beatrix Sherman's first documented silhouettes were shown at the Twenty-Sixth Exhibition of Watercolors and Pastels and Miniatures held by the Art Institute of Chicago, from May 7 to June 7, 1914. Sherman displayed six pieces, five of which were silhouettes.
Sherman attended her first major exhibition of the Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) held in San Francisco in 1915. It was around this time that she greatly increased the amount of work she produced, cutting as many silhouettes as she possibly could. She also began guest books to document the signatures of the subjects she cut. There are six known surviving guest books, all in private collections. The one used at the PPIE was sold at auction in May 2006.
Sherman often compared herself to August Edouart, a well-known 19th century French silhouette artist who kept books with an extra copy of each sitter's silhouette. This not only allowed Edouart to keep a visual record of his work, but also allowed him to cut copies of silhouettes for sale at a later date. Beatrix Sherman emulated August Edouart by numbering or making a notation on the back of each of her silhouettes, enabling her to create an extensive personal archive that included both silhouettes and her sitter's (sic.) autographs. Often she would write comments on the verso of the silhouette noting both the location and anything else of interest about the sitter or the process of cutting the silhouette. Sherman's use of scissors in lieu of camera crated a collection that documented society in both an old fashioned and personal way. She even began to experiment with larger silhouettes, and in Fall of 1925, Beatrix Sherman advertised in the New Yorker Magazine, offering to cut not only a single but also family silhouettes to be made into Christmas cards.
Keeping a permanent studio in New York City through the 1950s, Sherman traveled extensively cutting silhouettes. Attending six World's Fairs in 25 years, she attempted to expand the traditional boundaries of the silhouette artist, doing more than simply cutting a quick and inexpensive portrait of the sitter. Her efforts to adapt her profession to changing times allowed her both greater economic and artistic freedom. Even from an early age, she had begun copyrighting silhouettes of a number of the famous people she cut. Reproductions of presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Herbert Hoover were copyrighted in 1918.
Beatrix Sherman attended art classes at The Art Students League, eventually becoming a lifetime member. It was possibly around this time that she created "Silhouette Stick-on Figures", packages of small themed miniature silhouettes with various decorative uses. She not only printed silhouettes of famous historical people including Napoleon, Dickens, Lafayette, and Washington, but designed mats and frames for her silhouettes. Sherman also printed a series of nursery rhymes in three colors, complete with accompanying silhouette illustrations.

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Very good, one corner pushed up1111