Tableau is used to describe a painting or photograph in which characters are arranged for picturesque or dramatic effect and appear absorbed and completely unaware of the existence of the viewer
Tableau paintings were natural and true to life, and had the effect of walling off the observer from the drama taking place, transfixing the viewer like never before.
Tableau photography captures a very similar style to what interests me in photography. I love the use of props that create a cinematic feel to the piece and are composing a movie-like set to the image. The story it holds is particularly impressive and the choice of setting, props, cast, costumes etc. Is executed all for one image which I find very impressive.
Gregory Crewdson
Gregory Crewdson is an American photographer best known for staging cinematic scenes of suburbia to dramatic effect. His surreal images are often melancholic, offering ambiguous narrative suggestions and blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality. Working with large production teams to scout and shoot his images, his photographs have become increasingly complex as if it were for a motion picture production, including its painstaking preparation of elaborate sets, lighting, and cast
He is very well known for his incredible Tableau photography which is composed with an incredible amount of thought and detail. Every prop used has a meaning to the photo to give it a very cinematic feel. Almost like a movie set.
Philip-Lorca diCorcia
Philip-Lorca diCorcia is an American photographer whose work encompasses both documentary and staged photography, lending his large-scale colour prints a narrative mixture of truth and fiction. He stated “I think it’s a sense of disappointment after realizing that most of the time they’re being lied to,” diCorcia has observed of his audience’s reaction to ambiguous nature of his photographs. He also stated “And what medium has a stronger relationship to people’s idea of the truth than one that is supposed to be an accurate representation of reality?”
His cinematic approach echoes Gregory Crewdson’s methodology, wherein the artist prepares the shots as if they were scenes in a film, as seen in his series Hustlers. The “dramatizing elements,” as the artist calls them, are what gives his images their narrative power
This artist takes a wide amount of inspiration from Gregory Crewdson who I find to be very intriguing with his photographs portraying realistic, cinematic-like scenes. They both produce very surreal settings within the art form itself, with the unusual use of props and location.
