23 Years of Sculpting Celebrity Faces: Meet Stéphane Barret, the Official Sculptor of Grévin Museum

For 23 years, the plastic sculptor Stéphane Barret has been shaping the faces of the characters at the Grévin museum. He is one of two official sculptors of the museum with more than sixty wax celebrities to his credit. Meeting in his workshop in Tours.

Celebrity faces by the dozen. In his workshop, casts made from celebrity sculptures stare at us. Stars of the small screen, athletes, actors, politicians, comedians…

Behind these famous faces hides Stéphane Barret. In 23 years, he created more than sixty busts for the famous museum Grévin including Bruce Willis, his first contribution. He is one of two official sculptors. His latest creation: the bust of American actor Dwayne Johnson. His wax double was inaugurated on October 16. And in anticipation of the Rugby World Cup, he created Antoine Dupont’s replica.

Most of the time, Stéphane meets the personality in the Grévin workshops before tackling sculpture. She is photographed from every angle, her head and body are scanned. Hand and tooth prints are taken. The celebrity chooses the pose and expression. “The most difficult thing is to make the sculpture have as much life as the personality.“, explains the artist.

For his busts, he works with plastiline, a highly precise modeling clay that never dries. With his blades, he shapes faces to make them realistic and alive. Five to eight weeks of work are required. More for international stars or deceased celebrities. Without prior meeting, he must work from press photos. An additional difficulty:In photos, we don’t have the right profile, the desired expression. It’s a real interpretation of the character and it requires more work sometimes four months “.

The artist settled in Tours three years ago in a 200 m² workshop to develop his professional and personal creations. Specializing in hyperrealism, both human and animal, he works on his creations between two commissions. The artist unleashes his creativity with his characters with oversized hairstyles and his animal creations. “It’s a slightly different job, the world of hyperrealism fascinates me and it allows me to have real creations unlike Grévin where I am forced to make exact replicas of personalities.”

Stéphane Barret spent his childhood in Vierzon in Cher. With a father, a wood modeling teacher and a mother, a painter and sculptor. At a very young age, this heritage allowed him to discover painting, working with wood, plaster, earth and iron. At the age of 25, he created his first large works in plaster. He learns and refines his techniques as an autodidact. At 31, he gave up his job in the mechanical industry, decided to resume design studies and started as a visual artist in Paris. For two years, he has been working with his son, Tom, and passing on his know-how to him.

The Grévin museum exhibits more than 200 wax celebrities out of a total of 2,000 characters created since the opening in 1882. Each year, around ten new characters who make the news are selected by the Grévin Academy to replace old ones. glory. Six months are needed on average to create a statue, from sculpture to makeup. The sculptor has two commissions in progress but he will not say more because he has signed a confidentiality agreement. A hint: the Olympic Games are approaching.