Philippe Faraut

Philippe Faraut is a French-born figurative sculptor who lives and works in the United States. He makes portraits, figures and animals in water-based clay, terracotta, bronze and marble, and is equally well known as a teacher: his books, videos and seminars on portrait and figure sculpting are used by students around the world. His clay bust Child Bride (2014), a young girl under a bridal veil, is in our catalogue.

Life and training

Faraut is originally from the French Alps. He trained as a woodcarver, earning a degree in wood sculpting and in the design and construction of fine furniture in the French classic style, in Annecy. That background in carving and joinery shows in his attention to structure and planes.

After moving to the United States he settled first in the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia, where he became interested in modeling the human head in clay. He is now based in Honeoye, in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, where his gallery shows one-off terracotta portraits, figures and animals, limited-edition bronzes and marbles. Published sources disagree about his birth year and birthplace, so we leave them blank here.

Style: structure first

Faraut's sculpture is realist and expressive. His heads are built from a clear understanding of the skull and the planes of the face, then finished with soft modeling of skin, wrinkles and expression. He has studied forensic facial reconstruction and anaplastology, the making of facial prostheses, and lectures at universities and medical conventions in the United States and Europe on facial expression and aging. That knowledge gives his portraits of the elderly and of children a particular truthfulness: the sag of a cheek, the set of a mouth.

He has also translated his clay work into monumental carvings in marble and limestone.

Teaching and books

Since 1992 Faraut has taught seminars on portrait, figure and animal sculpture in water-based clay across the United States, Canada and Europe. He has set out his methods in a series of books, including Portrait Sculpting: Anatomy & Expressions in Clay and the two-volume Figure Sculpting (Volume 1, Planes & Construction Techniques in Clay; Volume 2, Gesture & Drapery Techniques in Clay), along with videos and online courses. His approach, building a head from simple geometric planes before adding detail, follows the academic tradition of 19th-century European studios.

Child Bride

Child Bride shows a young girl's head and shoulders under a bridal veil, her expression grave and withdrawn. Faraut made it in 2014 to draw attention to child marriage. The force of the piece lies in the contrast between the costume of a wedding and the face of a child who should be nowhere near one.

Recognition and where to see his work

Faraut has received awards from the National Sculpture Society, the Art Renewal Center and the New York Society of Portrait Artists, and his work has appeared repeatedly in the Art Renewal Center's international salons. The best place to see his work is his gallery in Honeoye, New York. For the tradition of portrait and figure sculpture behind him, see our guide to famous sculptures and the work of Auguste Rodin.