University of Texas at San Antonio

Nathali Serrano
January 28th

Madame Tussaud and the art of wax

Marie Grosholtz, also known as Madame Tussaud was a successful woman
that was born in Strasburg, France, but at the age of six Marie and her mother moved to
Paris, where they met Doctor Curtius and he was also a wax modeler, in fact he taught
Marie how to create wax figurines by the way they became very popular. When the
doctor died Marie inherited his exhibition.
Madame Tussaud travelled with all of her wax collection to show the people
from different cities her wax creations, later on she stablished in London, where she had
breakthrough and many people liked her creations. Unfortunately at the age of 89 she
passes away, but she left her collections to her two sons and they continued the
exhibitions. Her son Franois became chief artist for the exhibition. He was succeeded
in turn by his son Joseph, who was succeeded by his son John Theodore Tussauds
Nowadays the influences of Madame Taussauds figurines has transcended
around the world, Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now grown to become one of
the major tourist attractions in London, and has expanded with branches in Amsterdam,
Bangkok, Sydney, Madame Tussauds Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Shanghai, Berlin,
Washington D.C., New York City, and Hollywood. The current owner is Merlin
Entertainments Group.