Large Life on Small Scale

The Carole and Barry Kaye Museum of Miniatures will showcase master artist George Stuart’s “Abraham Lincoln”--a re-creation of the President’s life from boyhood to assassination.

The exhibit, from Feb. 6 through May 8, uses lifelike figurines from Stuart’s renowned collection to accurately and vividly portray Lincoln’s life.

The display includes the personalities involved in Lincoln’s life and death: his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln; Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, famous for the debates with Lincoln in Illinois’ 1858 Senate campaign; Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy; generals Ulysses S. Grant of the Union and Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy, and John Wilkes Booth, who shot Lincoln at the Ford Theater in Washington on April 12, 1865.

The miniatures are made of papier-mache, Styrofoam and cotton padding. They are covered by a lifelike “skin” of cloth and a special blend of plastic.

Stuart, who considers himself a historian rather than an artist, says his figures are similar to actors on a stage. He says three-dimensional portraits are great fun, even for people who have little interest in history.

*

The museum is at 5900 Wilshire Blvd., across from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors 60 and older, $5 for students 12-21 and $3 for children under 12; phone: (213) 937-6464.