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Posted on 02/17/2006 2:31:10 AM PST by Majie Purple
News 02/17/2006 00:13:06 EST Wax Figures Show 'Real' George Washington By RICHARD PYLE Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - In a former box factory on an old Brooklyn street named for him, half a mile from where his defeated army escaped by night to fight another day, George Washington has all but come back to life. Not just one George Washington, but three - the 19-year-old wilderness surveyor, the 45-year-old Revolutionary War general and the 57-year-old president on his inauguration day in 1789.
The trio of life-size wax figures, created by British-born artists Stuart Williamson and Sue Day, is destined for a new $95 million permanent exhibit at Washington's estate in Mount Vernon, Va. "The Real George Washington" will open to the public next October.
While a 1785 terra-cotta bust and plaster life mask by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon and several portraits by American painter Charles Wilson Peale are considered the most accurate likenesses, StudioEIS director Ivan Schwartz says his team of sculptors also meets Washington's own definition of artists as "doorkeepers of the temple of fame."
"People will look at these figures and be sort of awe-struck, but they will make people think in a different way," Schwartz says. "This is wonderful speculation about what he looked like."
The idea of depicting the "real" Washington at three important moments in his life originated with James Rees, executive director at Mount Vernon, who says he realized Americans knew the mythological Washington who could not tell a lie and threw a dollar across the Rappahannock, but not the Washington chosen by his fellow founders to lead both the revolution and the new nation.
"A lot of it goes back to the classroom," Rees says. "My school history textbook in 1966 had 10 times as many lines about Washington as books used today. And visitors to Mount Vernon kept telling us in exit surveys that 'you haven't taught me anything about him.'
"The only Washington they know is the one on the dollar bill. They use words like stiff, old, grumpy, and, worst of all, boring."
Rees notes that even the Washington Monument on the National Mall has no statue or inscribed quotations from the man it honors.
Thus the decision to present the "real" George Washington - not the benign squire of Mount Vernon tending his gardens and livestock, but the man of action, charting the forests, on horseback in war and in the political arena. "We figured the place to start was to show young people what he really looked like," Rees says.
None of the wax versions resemble the tightlipped face on the dollar bill, but they do reflect the changes caused by progressive tooth loss that began at age 22 and in later life distorted the shape of his jaw and required him to wear dentures made of human and animal teeth. Washington was born Feb. 22, 1732, and died at the age of 67.
Because no portrait exists of him before age 38, the face of the young surveyor was based on age-regression technology used by Jeffrey Schwartz, a University of Pittsburgh anthropology professor (no relation to Ivan) to determine how he probably looked at age 19.
The wax models will incorporate copies of real artifacts - a Continental Army uniform owned by the Smithsonian Institution, snippets of his reddish hair and the suit in which he may have taken the oath of office, both from Mount Vernon's collection.
By measuring five pieces of clothing he is known to have worn, it was determined that Washington stood 6 feet 2 inches "plus seven-eighths in his shoes," Ivan Schwartz says.
During a recent visit to StudioEIS on historic Washington Street, the nearly completed President-elect Washington, in brown suit and buckled shoes, stood a few feet from Gen. Washington in uniform astride a wooden mock-up that looked less like a horse than a mechanical bull in a Texas saloon. Both figures were painted in lifelike flesh tones, and a hint of dark stubble suggested the general hadn't shaved before reviewing his troops at Valley Forge that morning.
Nearby, Day was touching up the strong-chinned face of the teenage Washington. A deft brush stroke of clear acrylic brought sudden life to the blue eyes. When completed, that figure would be suitably dressed for mapping the Shenandoah wilderness in 1750.
Schwartz says it didn't initially occur to him how close his studio was to real history - the East River boat landing where, in 1776, Washington's army fled to Manhattan after its defeat by the redcoats in the Battle of Brooklyn.
Williamson, a former chief sculptor at Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London who also works in stone and wood, found it ironic that two Brits were being asked to re-create their country's chief nemesis. But both he and Day, a former Tussaud's makeup expert, were impressed by the subject.
"I've worked on many figures that were the flavor of the moment, but none with the staying power of George Washington," Day says. "I've learned more about him than I ever knew."
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On the Net:
http://www.studioEIS.com
http://www.mountvernon.org
I have been to Mt. Vernon a couple of times. Last time, it was on President's Day weekend, and it was mobbed. I live close enough to be able to drop by from time to time.
It's a fascinating place to visit, and it is at it's best in the springtime.
And there's nothing dry, stuffy or boring about George Washington, at all!
Welcome aboard. :-)
Thank you! I almost had it all complete! I'll get it down...Thanks for your patience;kindness and work on my behalf! Sighned a thankful Newbie...
Thanks for the "welcome aboard!" You couldn't sleep either huh? {:O)}
I had to get up for work. I don't like to rush in the morning- I take some time to wake up properly. Checking FR is on my morning list of things to do. I am a raging history buff- so history-related articles catch my eye. :-)
Cheers! (waves mug of coffee)
FYI fellow Newbies just puting Associated Press for the source like I did isn't specific enough. Thanks again Moderator for puting Forbs in as the source...I didn't see that. I got the article from Top Stories From my ISP's Home Page and all they had was all I copied to post here for folks.
Oh- if you're in the area and interested in George Washington- his boyhood home at Fredericksburg (Ferry Farm) is also an attraction. It's about a 35-40 minute drive south of DC.
http://www.kenmore.org/ferryfarm_homepage.html
I had to laugh when I was standing on the bluffs at Mt Vernon and recalled the oft-told tale of 'Washington throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac'. The river is about a mile wide there. It was probably actually a piece of slate across the Rappahannock at Ferry Farm- and that isn't easy, either.
More... http://www.kenmore.org/foundation/pic_of_week/pic_of_week.html
Pingaroo for you my Brother!
Thanks for the story and those links for folks to view!
Thanks for bumping by as they say around here...
No problem. I see at the Ferry Farm website that there is a 'stone throw' across the Rappahannock tomorrow. That might be just the excuse I need to drive down there.
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Sue Day holds the wax head of the 19-year-old version of George Washington in the Brooklyn, N.Y., office of StudioEIS. (Sun photo by Lloyd Fox)
Thanks, Cagey. I had wanted to see the 19 y/o GW head, but couldn't find it. Much appreciated.
Thank you. It's now on my list of trips to take here.
Thanks for posting. Interesting stuff.
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