Talk:Tableau vivant

Development of article

Given THE complexity of possibly spellings and mis-spellings during searches, I have fleshed out the existing simple Tableau page, and creatied re-directs to it from "Tableaux vivant" (didn't previously exist) and "Tableau vivant" (which was a very tiny stub). -- 24 Sept 05.

Mathematics

Some of the mathematical literature defines a generalization of Young tableaux (with fewer restrictions) called "tableaux", and apparently semantic tableaux are also sometimes so called. Would there be any objection to making "Tableau" a disambiguation page and moving this page to "Tableaux vivant" (and then of course re-directing "Tableau vivant" there)? Crazilla 14:24, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Moved back as an improper plural. I guess not. Ashibaka tock 01:37, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Loughborough High School

The new headmistress at Loughborough High School has done away with many of the traditions at the school. Let us hope that the tableaux remains. It was only performed three times this Christmas

moved here Johnbod (talk) 00:40, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

if the above is not a quote, it is not encyclopedic (particularly the expression of hope). --Davecampbell (talk) 00:58, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

In film and television

Would the end of 1776, wherein the (fictional) signing of the Declaration of Independence is freeze-framed and morphed into the famous painting thereof, qualify as an example? --Davecampbell (talk) 00:58, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

I'd say no - really it should be a complete performance in itself (or a series of them should be one) Johnbod (talk) 01:06, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

I've started a section on film, since there was already an item in the article about it. However, we probably should include a paragraph on the use of temporary tableaux in film, as in the 1776 film adaptation. It's a frequent motif; a common form of it is the use of freeze-framing on a scene (e.g. re-enactment of the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima to match the photo and statue most of us are probably familiar with). I'm just not sure any film journals and the like have written an article on it that we can cite.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  12:30, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

This also should include ballet as choreographers have begun or ended scenes with tableaux for probably 200 years. Dancers don't move without music, so until the music begins or after it ends they freeze, exactly in this tableau vivant style.

It's a corollary; I realize that tableau vivant is an entertainment form unto itself. I first discovered it watching AMC's The Terror series, where the various characters, back at home in England, are watching such a performance, and are even honored publicly as the tableau in question is one of Ross's expeditions to Antarctica in which all these people had served in the early 1840's Deliusfan (talk) 01:24, 10 June 2025 (UTC)

Classical Music

Some pieces of classical music that are currently in the concert repertoire were originally written to accompany tableaux vivants -- Sibelius comes to mind, but there was also a melodramatic fascist French composer whose name escapes me that Chicago Symphony Orchestra played maybe five years ago. Sorry not to have any citations, but I hope this elicits some memories in somebody else with a better classical music reference library ready to hand. 14:08, 5 March 2014 (UTC)Krautsk (talk)

I'll bite: In the Steppes of Central Asia of Borodin was written to accompany a tableau vivant according to the Wiki article. (User talk:deliusfan) — Preceding undated comment added 01:12, 10 June 2025 (UTC)

Painting

We need a section on painting, especially from Romanticism through Art Nouveau, and its use of tableau presentation, and the influence this had, in turn, on photographic tableaux. We're basically jumping straight from theatre to photography, and even the photography section makes it clear that photographic tableaux developed from painting tableaux, not theatrical.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  12:32, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Undue over-quotation, citation, and explication of Wall's ideas

The photography section needs to be pruned by about 50% or more, to reduce the WP:UNDUE dwelling on Jeff Wall's ideas, excessive quotation of him, and what reads like a community college art teacher's original research about what Wall really means. The entire segment is largely unencyclopedic, but could be boiled down to WP-appropriate content.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  12:35, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Translation of Tableau

"However Michael Fried retains the French term when referring to Chevrier's essay, because according to Fried (2008), there is no direct translation into English for tableau in this sense"

The direct translation of tableau in English is "tableau"! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.254.1.34 (talk) 15:36, October 24, 2017 (UTC)

Tableau vivant in Plays

A true tableau vivant occurs at the end of the live musical version of 1776. This is formed by the actors who freeze into their iconic positions (this also occurs at the end of the film version). At the very end the lighting changes on the scrim, and we see the Declaration of Independence superimposed over the actors, still frozen (while the orchestra crescendos, etc.).

Does the image in Marat Sade count (when Marat is murdered in the bathtub, he appears in the same pose as the David? painting). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.254.1.34 (talk) 15:45, October 24, 2017 (UTC)

Float off "tableaux in modern photographic theory" section

This doesn't seem to belong here, and should be its own article, imo. It's long enough, with plenty of refs. Thoughts? Johnbod (talk) 03:19, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

Agreed. The 4th(?) paragraph begins "The photographic tableau has its roots not in the theatrical tableau vivant, but in pictorialist photography..." so it would be better either in its own article or perhaps in Pictorialism. Maybe the Tableau vivant article could conclude by saying it has influenced pictorialism perhaps. --Northernhenge (talk) 12:26, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

Tableau use in ballet should be included

frequently in ballet the dancers set up in a frozen position before beginning a general dance scene or a dramatic scene moving the action forward. The general rule is if the music stops, the dancers do, too, so im surprised this application that is still used to this day (in the same vein as the 1776 musical pointed out above) isn't mentioned anywhere in the article. It's even called "dance tableau" as the official term name:

https://sfconservatoryofdance.org/choreography-glossarsy/dance-tableau/ Deliusfan (talk) 01:08, 10 June 2025 (UTC)