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Madame Tussauds


Madame Tussauds
Photo Information
Copyright: Roger Minkow (rminkow) Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1150 W: 29 N: 803] (5931)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-06-18
Categories: Artwork
Camera: Cannon 40D, Canon 70-200mm f4 L USM
Exposure: f/4, 1/30 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2008-06-19 6:16
Viewed: 349
Points: 34
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Thanks to all of you who responded to yesterday's posting. Today is a little lighter in theme. This is one of the wax sculptures at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Las Vegas. The detail work on these pieces of art are incredible. When you stand next to some of them you can't believe they are not real people...

Here is the background.

Madame Tussauds is a famous wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was set up by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud.
History
Marie Grosholtz (1761–1850) was born (Marie Tussaud) in Strasbourg, France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius, who was a physician skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling. In 1765, Curtius made a waxwork of Marie-Jeanne du Barry, Louis XV's mistress. A cast of that mould is the oldest work currently on display. The first exhibition of Curtius' waxworks was shown in 1770, and attracted a large audience. The exhibition moved to the Palais Royal in Paris in 1776. He opened a second location on Boulevard du Temple in 1782, the "Caverne des Grands Voleurs", a precursor to the later Chamber of Horrors.

Tussaud created her first wax figure, of Voltaire, in 1777. Other famous people she modelled at that time include Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin. During the French Revolution she made wax death masks of prominent victims. She would search through corpses to find the decapitated heads of the citizens which the death masks were to depict. When Curtius died in 1794, he left his collection of waxworks to Marie. In 1802, she went to London. As a result of the Franco-English war, she was unable to return to France, so she travelled throughout Great Britain and Ireland exhibiting her collection. For a time, it was displayed at the Lyceum Theatre. She established her first permanent exhibition on Baker Street in London in 1835 (on the "Baker Street Bazaar").
One of the main attractions of her museum was the Chamber of Horrors. This part of the exhibition included some victims of the French Revolution and also newly created figures of murderers and other criminals. The name was given by a contributor to Punch in 1845. Other famous people were added to the exhibition, including Horatio Nelson, and Sir Walter Scott. Some of the sculptures done by Tussaud herself still exist. In 1842, she made a self portrait which is now on display at the entrance of her museum.
The museum moved to its current location on Marylebone Road in 1884. In 1925 a fire destroyed many of the figures, but the moulds survived, allowing the historical waxworks to be remade.


New Washington, D.C. location
Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now grown to become a major tourist attraction in London, incorporating (until recently) the London Planetarium in its west wing. It has expanded with branches in Amsterdam, Las Vegas, New York City, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Washington DC, with additional locations scheduled to open in Berlin in July 2008 and Hollywood in 2009. Today's wax figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers. Known as "Madame Tussauds" museums (no apostrophe), they are owned by a leisure company called Merlin Entertainments, following the acquisition of The Tussauds Group in May 2007.
bucanas, Hendrika, Ramdan, josediogo1958, Teresat, dareco, Masroor has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To lehaim1: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 07-10 20:20
To joopiter: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 07-02 12:01
To Masroor: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-23 22:29
To EOSF1: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-23 20:03
To mbrito: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-22 20:50
To dareco: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-21 07:14
To Redrubin: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-19 21:47
To Teresat: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-19 21:45
To copadonat: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-19 21:43
To josediogo1958: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-19 21:42
To Ramdan: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-19 21:40
To TripleT: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-19 21:39
To Hendrika: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-19 21:37
To cknara: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-19 21:35
To bucanas: Madame Tussaudsrminkow 1 06-19 21:34
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Roger,
Fantastic.Very good light,congratulation.
Ralf

Very nice portrait.I like the way portrait has been captured.Excellent sharpness & lighting.

Hi Roger,

You could have fooled me indeed with this picture. Wonderful light and life-like details.

TFS
Els

This isn't Johnny Depp, is it? :)
It is incredible that this is not a real person, and you have captured it well. Nice composition and lighting/shadows.
Tracy

Hi Roger,
Ahh... thought it was a real, Roger. Fine work of art, and you captured it nicely.
Regards,
Ramdan.

Hi Roger
Amazing portrait my friend.Wonderful composition,great soft tones,lightning,and the dark BG.Like a painting.
Friendly greetings
J.Diogo

Roger

wow impresionante te felicito

Hello Roger

It´s really ligther but the light are superb. I must say that the model is suprb too. It helps, I think. Thanks

have a good We

My regards

teresat

Hi
Good morning+
nice portrait and great details
have nice day
Lucio

This really is amazing!! For a minute there I thought maybe he was a personal friend of yours ;) Really good lighting on this. TFS and have a great day!

Hello Roger,
Fantastic portrait. If Johny Deep had problems with work he would want this one for his «porfolio». It's perfect.
Congrats, mb
: ltr

  • Great 
  • EOSF1 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1462 W: 126 N: 2045] (17677)
  • [2008-06-23 7:06]
  • [+]

Hello Roger, you're right I'm still not sure that it's not the real deal! :-) Anyway, you've a great portrait out of it, well done, thanks!

Mario

Hello Roger,
very good idea to shot wax sculptures:)
No problems with skin - eyes always opened, always perfect hai style;))
Siarhei

Hi Roger,

Without seeing your note I will believe this is the real one. I think Johnny Depp will confuse too. Nice shot! I like the shadows on his face here. The light and colors are nicely captured. TFS!

Regards,
Masroor

Very interesting information about this historical work and nice detailed close up photo. Sure that's not Johnny Depp? :O)

Richard

hi dear roger
its amazing
great work
take care
joopiter

he looks soooo real, its unbelievable. great portrait

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