I know someone mentioned in class the other day about Tableau Vivant being featured in pop culture, a specific episode of the Gilmore Girls was mentioned and I totally remember that episode. Not to go off on a huge tangent but the reason I bring this up is because… that is the type of art that comes to mind when I think of Tableau Vivant; famous paintings being portrayed by live human beings in costume with scenery and lighting. This was a family show however so there were no nude pictures portrayed in the episode I’m referencing.
Again, I mention this because I had a set idea in my mind of what Tableau Vivant was, and although this isn’t the most scholarly way to go about finding information on a topic, I was surprised at what I found after doing a Google image search for Tableau Vivant. I found very few pictures that matched the image I had in my mind. I was expecting to mainly see very elaborate and well known works of art portrayed by live people. I found a few of these, but mostly what I discovered were either very modern interpretations of Tableau Vivant, and by that I mean taking a famous painting and reinterpreting it in a different setting and with completely different characters, or a lot of what I’m going to call, very interesting poses.
A lot of these interesting poses came from a photographer called Sarah Small. I tried to find out more about her but her biography was rather limited. I would post some of the photos I am referring to but I’m not quite sure how I feel about them myself. I’m a pretty open minded individual but now I’m feeling, to my horror, a little like Lady Summerset! I’m not sure if it’s art or something else. I checked out her web site and some of her pictures are beautiful, but others, the more elaborate photos taken of people holding some rather interesting and sometimes suggestive posses in the nude, are a little questionable for me. I’m not quite sure what purpose they are serving. It wasn’t only her photos, I was surprised by how many people had similar images. This certainly shows the evolution of Tableau Vivant, but if the purpose is to take a photo, and not for live entertainment, is it still Tableau Vivant?
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