Legal Definitions - tableaux vivants

Tableaux vivants describe a performance where actors dress as characters from a specific painting. These performers then pose and act out the scene or event depicted in that artwork.

A tableau vivant (plural: tableaux vivants) is an artistic presentation where one or more people pose silently and motionlessly, often in costume, to recreate a scene from a painting, sculpture, or historical event. The term, which translates from French as "living picture," emphasizes the visual resemblance to a static artwork, brought to life by human performers.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of a tableau vivant:

• Museum Exhibit: Imagine a local art museum hosting a special event where volunteers dress up and arrange themselves to perfectly mimic famous historical paintings, such as Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper or Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. The performers hold their poses for several minutes, allowing visitors to observe the "living" recreation of the artwork.

  This illustrates a tableau vivant because it involves people meticulously recreating a well-known painting, holding static poses to embody the characters and scene depicted in the original artwork, offering a dynamic interpretation of a two-dimensional piece.

• Theatrical Performance: During a community theater production of a classic play, there might be a moment where the actors freeze in a dramatic pose at the end of a scene, illuminated by a spotlight, to evoke a powerful image or symbolize a key moment. For instance, at the climax of a tragedy, the cast might form a silent, motionless arrangement that mirrors a classical sculpture depicting grief or sacrifice.

  This illustrates a tableau vivant as the actors intentionally create a static, visually striking composition that resembles a fixed artwork, using their bodies and costumes to convey emotion or narrative without movement or dialogue, much like a "living picture" within a larger performance.

• Advertising Campaign: A luxury brand launching a new product might create an advertisement featuring models meticulously posed and styled to replicate a famous Renaissance painting, such as Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, but with the product subtly integrated into the scene. The models remain perfectly still, creating a visually rich and artistic image for the campaign.

  This illustrates a tableau vivant because the advertisement uses human models to form a deliberate, static arrangement that directly references and recreates a renowned piece of art, leveraging the visual power of the original work to convey a message or aesthetic for the brand.