A tableau vivant , 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. A tableau may either be ‘performed’ live, or depicted in  painting, photography and sculpture.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tableaux sometimes featured poses plastiques (‘flexible poses’) by virtually nude models, providing a form of erotic entertainment, both on stage and in print. Tableaux continue to the present day in the form of living statues, street performers who busk by posing in costume.

Jean-François Chevrier was the first to use the term tableau in relation to a form of art photography, which began in the 1970’s and 1980’s in an essay titled “The Adventures of the Picture Form in the History of Photography” in 1989.

It shows us three teenage girls posed formally in a dining room. In the center of this photograph, a clock face is on top of a dark marble fireplace. Above the clock hangs a nineteenth century portrait of an old man mounted in a heavy gilt frame. On either side of the painting, framed prints of men hunting on horseback hang on the wall. However this isn’t what catches the attention the image is dominated by the colour of the wall behind, rich blue that screams royalty. The polished surface of the dining table cuts across the picture horizontally and the table’s surface is highly reflective, creating a mirror effect and almost like symmetry as it reflects the silver platter and an ornate ceramic tureen. A dark-haired girl stands to the center right of the image, holding onto the back of a chair pulled out behind the table. She stares directly, at the viewer. Two girls sit at the table, on either side of its centerpiece.

On the right, a girl wearing a blue shirt is gazing at the table center piece. One hand rests lightly on the table, while the other, half hidden behind a cascade of hair, supports her face as she leans her elbow on the table almost looking bored of being there.

On the left, a girl in an orange shirt is folded over her arms, her face hidden and her blonde hair flowing onto the table. The table’s surface is highly reflective mirroring the girls. The dark space underneath it constitutes the foreground of the image and has a significant effect to the visual power of the image and adds a sinister undertone their environment. The girls wear make-up and are well groomed, echoing the room’s extremely clean and well-ordered appearance.