Uneasy Associations: Wax Bodies Outside the Canon

Catherine Heard 243 teachers of pathology and to families. Although articles were published in at least two medical joumals in 1976 and 1977, it seems that these attempts at revival of moulage were unsuccessful (Neave 211-18; Bamson and Neave 136-38). Thomas Schnalke theorizes that the resistance of the present-day medical community to the use of moulages is related to the uncanny realism of the objects, which evoke a sensation of "schaulust"-an intense combination of curiosity and revulsion-in the viewer. Information 1s conveyed to the viewer in an "unforgettable act," but the act 1s psychologically burdened by an excess of emotional content, which 1s undesirable in a medical or scientificcontext (204). In 1882, just as the production of wax moulages was peaking across Europe and North America, critic Eugene Guillaume criticized Jean Desire Ringel's life-sized wax sculpture, Demi-monde, as reminding him of "galleries of anatomy," noting that, "adding color to simple reality, gives it an indefinable quality of dullness and morbidity" (Kendall 34 ). The previous year, Degas' little dancer had been critiqued as "vulgar" and "low" (Czesto chowski and Pingeot 11 ). It was compared to the "realism of Spanish polychrome sculpture" and to the waxworks of Madame Tussaud (Reff52), and, finally, condemned as being better suited for display with the anatomical and physiognomical sculptures at the Musee Dupuytren than in the art gallery (Kemp 143 ). In comparison to austere white marble and evenly patinated bronze, the "terrible realism of [Degas' Little Dancer] makes the public distinctly uneasy" (Czestochoski 11 ). The very quality of uncanny realism which has made wax simulacra unacceptable to the medical community and cast them as objects of doubtful quality in the canon of art history, has been responsible for their enduring presence in the panopticon. Today, after more than two centuries, Tussaud's wax museums remain popular tourist destinations, their allure little changed from that of Curtius' first wax salon, where visitors had the illusion of standing amidst celebrated heroes and villains. The practical structure of working studio of the modem wax museum bears remarkable resemblence to the Renaissance studios where wax votive figures were produced, to the studios of La Specola and the Hygiene Museum in Dresden. Today's wax museum's studio is organized hierarchically under a lead sculptor and, during the six-month course of production, a figurepasses through the hands of several specialized workers. Lead sculptors and assistant sculptors usually have college level art training; and many enter the business after working in a related field, such as prop building for the film industry. Skills specific to the trade are generally acquired through a period of apprenticeship. In addition to sculptors, costumers and hair specialists also contribute to the making of the figures. 244 Catherine Heard The sculptures of the wax museum, like votive figures, anatomical and dermatological waxes, stand outside the realm of recognized art. Multiple figures may be made from the same mold and are un-numbered, and unsigned. Like the wax figures made at La Specola, no true original exists -heads are modeled from clay which is reclaimed for re-use in other models after the mold is made; molds for hands are cast from life, and other parts of the figure are made from fiberglass and later attached to the head and hands before being dressed. The sculptures are not valued individually as works of art. Heads are periodically recast as the wax begins to discolor and, when the famous fall from fashion, their wax heads may be recycled as supernumerary figures, such as "tourists" or secondary figures in the displays, such as a torturer at work in the Chamber of Horrors. Wax limbs from figures that are 8 being recycled are generally melted down and the wax reused. Madame Tussaud's Portrait Committee meets approximately eight times a year and deaccessions at least fifty characters annually, to make room for new displays (Bloom 25-26). Although colloquially called museums, .waxworks are part of the entertainment industry and are run for private profit and subject to the tax laws applying to businesses, rather than those applying to non-profit museums. Additionally, customs laws treat wax figures as manufactured goods, rather than art, when they are sold or transported across international borders.9 The status of the sculptor in the wax museum, like the creators of voti, anatomical figures, and medical moulages, is that of artisan, who is paid a fixed salary, rather than artist who negotiates the value of individual artworks on an open market. The wax work sculptor is not held in high public esteem - Michelle Bloom recounts, "As late as 1965 a sculptor who did occasional work for Madame Tussaud's stipulated that his name never be revealed in connection with any waxwork for fear that his reputation might suffer" (15). Polychrome wax sculpture of the body briefly surfaced' in the art museum with Paul Thek's Technological Reliquaries (1965-1967), and Tomb (1967). Thek, a devout Catholic, made the works after returning from a two-year trip to Europe, which had included a lengthy stay in Rome where he had visited catacombs, as well as innumerable churches (Bangma 105- 50). Known to believe in the evocative quality of materials (Weintraub et al., 232-35), his use of wax, and human hair, seems an unquestionable reference to the votive art, which he inevitably would have encountered in European Churches. The visceral symbolism of his materials stands in stark contrast to the distanced practicality of other verist sculptors of the same period, including John de Andrea and Duane Hanson, who chose the strength of synthetic resins over the allusive, translucent, fragility of beeswax. .

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