Tableaux: A group of models or motionless figures representing a scene from a story or from history; a tableau vivant.
A tableau vivant is French for ‘living picture’, is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrically lit. It thus combines aspects of theatre and the visual arts.
A tableau may either be ‘performed’ live, or depicted in painting, photography and sculpture, such as in many works of the Romantic, Aesthetic, Symbolist, Pre-Raphaelite and Art Nouveau movements.
Above shows a tableaux photograph by the theatre company Ludovica Rambelli Teatro recreating one of Caravaggio’s paintings that would have been drawn from live actors. Many tableaux photographs are responded to and from paintings.
Below shows a different tableaux photography by Ryan Shude, his work is not so much recreated from paintings but is still set up and staged.
Class Response
As a class we produced a response to the painting ‘The Raft Of Medusa’. This is an example of tableaux photography, with the resources we had we tried to recreate this in a well way.
