Mining an Enigmatic Mind

It’s not easy getting to know George Stuart. The Ojai artist guards his privacy well, cutting off questions he feels are intrusive and offering patently ridiculous answers if pressed.

How old is he?

“One hundred eighty three--born about the time of Lincoln.”

Where is he from?

“Can’t remember, it’s been so long.”

Stuart, who appears to be at least in his late 60s, is the prickly perfectionist behind hundreds of finely detailed, historical figures sitting in museums, private collections and universities around the world.

For more than 50 years Stuart has made his figures, then mined history and literature to bring them to life. He’s traveled the country doing one-man performances--displaying his creations and discussing them in intimate detail.

But for all he reveals about the personal lives of his subjects, Stuart himself remains an enigma. A tall, courtly man with a neatly manicured mustache and a cutting wit, he detests over-familiarity and expects to be called Mr. Stuart.

Not surprisingly, his studio is off-limits to most everyone.

“I can assure you there are no elves in there,” he said. “Privacy is one of the most important things we have in this overpopulated, undereducated, banal society.”

His Marie Antoinette, Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth look ready to spring to life. They are one-fourth human size, wear meticulously detailed period costumes, have tiny jewelry, little eyelashes and radiate humanity. Some have taken six months to finish and have sold for more than $60,000.

Stuart uses portraits, busts and death masks to research his figures.

The skeleton is wire. He designs the clothes and hammers out each tiny ring, bracelet and bauble. The hair is often sheepskin, and the flesh a mixture of pigments, blown on with an airbrush.

“His work is impeccable,” said Gerd Koch, artist and curator of the Studio Channel Islands Art Center at Cal State Channel Islands. “If you are that much of a perfectionist you have to be a bit eccentric. What’s extraordinary is that it’s done in our county and it is basically world-standard stuff.”

Stuart’s favorite figure is Lincoln.

“It was the most enjoyable thing I ever did,” he said. “Truly compelling.”

But the figures are only part of his art. Stuart’s monologues let him indulge his love of the stage while educating the public.

A recent show at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art dealt with France’s Bourbon Dynasty.

Stuart sat on stage with figures of French royalty in glass cases around the darkened room.

He launched into their personal lives, sparing no detail or peccadillo. He told of courtesans who went about in drag, of kings getting circumcised while drunk, of torrid affairs and rank hypocrisy.

“It was known as the Age of Enlightenment, but it wasn’t very enlightened,” he said, arching his brow.

The monologue was sprinkled liberally with his pointed opinions.

Discussing one French royal, he remarked, “He didn’t pay attention to the idiocy called religion. Like any of us with a brain in his head, he knew it was nonsense.”

After a brief intermission, he reappeared on stage and asked, “Are there any comments or questions that you cannot live without expressing?”

The room was silent.

Afterward, he stood up and left without a word. The room erupted in applause.

Later, Stuart said the primary goal of his monologues is to educate.

“To me, complacency is the first deadly sin,” he said. “I don’t want people to say, ‘He just tries to shock people.’ That’s so silly. I’m glad when people find humor in it, because so much of human history is so grim.”

Stuart’s own history is that of a man who never really fit in, of a boy who built miniature replicas of the Palace of Versailles while his peers were out batting balls and riding bikes.

A visit to the small museum attached to his rustic Ojai home reveals a person utterly swept up in another world.

A heavy curtain covers the museum entrance.

Behind it lies a nearly pitch black gallery. Wagner’s “The Ride of the Valkyries” floods the room. Figures from ancient Germanic legends slowly appear behind glass. And there are miniature replicas of rooms, furnishings and tableware inside the Palace of Versailles.

“I built it for the pleasure of doing it,” Stuart said from the darkness. “I did it very young. It was a fascination and a hobby.”