Tableau Vivant French [tablo vivɑ̃]
n pl tableaux vivants [tablo vivɑ̃]
(Performing Arts / Theatre) a representation of a scene, painting, sculpture, etc.,
by a person or group posed silent and motionless.
Literally: living picture (1)
In modern times it can often feel as though we are saturated with imagery - magazines, billboards, the internet, television and cinemas are integral in our every day lives so much so that whether we recognise it or not, we are exposed to hundreds of photographs, clips, paintings and designs.
Why, then, would someone go to great lengths, spending vast amounts of time and money, to create one singular image?
A photograph does not move... it has no sound, no concept of events before or after, and generally no attached story in which to read it's context and intentions. Yet at the same time, a stand-alone image can be so loaded with meaning and drama that leaves the viewer to project his or her imagination to give the image a story, a context.
The artist is also faced with the challenge of making people want to stop and look at the image... human nature will always attract us to scenes or pictures that we find visually appealing- beautiful lighting, soft shadows and colour could possibly be used to draw in a viewer, although there is no one standard formula to creating an aesthetically pleasing image (if there were, I would already be famous).
Once the viewer's attention is captured, it is up to the individual elements in the photograph to reach the viewer on a deeper, psychological level.
Why, then, would someone go to great lengths, spending vast amounts of time and money, to create one singular image?
A photograph does not move... it has no sound, no concept of events before or after, and generally no attached story in which to read it's context and intentions. Yet at the same time, a stand-alone image can be so loaded with meaning and drama that leaves the viewer to project his or her imagination to give the image a story, a context.
The artist is also faced with the challenge of making people want to stop and look at the image... human nature will always attract us to scenes or pictures that we find visually appealing- beautiful lighting, soft shadows and colour could possibly be used to draw in a viewer, although there is no one standard formula to creating an aesthetically pleasing image (if there were, I would already be famous).
Once the viewer's attention is captured, it is up to the individual elements in the photograph to reach the viewer on a deeper, psychological level.
Narrative photography is often centred around psychological issues that are relevant to society... themes such as domesticity, consumerism, violence, aggression, sex and identity are often explored as they are relevant to every human being, and have been a constant throughout history.
Jeff Wall is a Canadian artist who, throughout the 1970's and 80's, developed a style of photography and imagery (I say imagery because he used digital manipulation at times), in which he constructed scenes which were static (unmoving), yet powerfully loaded with a story or set of emotions.
He also references his work against historically significant pieces of work, for example his photograph "The Destroyed Room" is a modern reconstruction of a painting produced 150 years earlier by Eugene Delacroix, entitled "The Death of Sardanapalus".
The following paragraph is from the Tate Modern gallery website (UK), and details the relationship between both the imagery and the psychological themes of both artworks:
The Destroyed Room 1978
'My first pictures like The Destroyed Room emerged from a re-encounter with nineteenth-century art', Wall has said. Here, the work in question is The Death of Sardanapalus (1827) by Eugène Delacroix, which depicts the Assyrian monarch on his deathbed, commanding the destruction of his possessions and slaughter of his concubines in a last act of defiance against invading armies.
Wall echoes Delacroix's composition, with its central sweeping diagonal and sumptuous palette of blood reds, while acknowledging its staged atmosphere by re-composing the scene as a roughly fabricated stage-set, absent of any players. 'Through the door you can see that it's only a set held up by supports, that this is not a real space, this is no-one's house,' he has commented. Though clearly a woman's bedroom, the cause of the violence is unexplained, leaving the viewer to speculate on the sequence of events. (2)
Eugène Delacroix. The Death of Sardanapalus. 1827-1828.
Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris, France.
Image courtesy of ABC gallery
http://www.abcgallery.com/D/delacroix/delacroix39.html
Jeff Wall. The Destroyed Room 1978
Transparency in lightbox 1590 x 2340 mm
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Purchased 1988
Cinematographic photograph
Courtesy of the Tate Modern, UK
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/jeffwall/rooms/room1.shtm
Another of Wall's images, titled Untangling, was staged in the cellar below a tool hire store in Vancouver, chosen for it's colours and space. Wall had previously seen a man by the water untangling a length of rope, and in this act he was able to see themes that relate to human nature itself: challenge, frustration, progress and futility (3). These subtle references are what Wall took two week's work to achieve, to me this is the difference between a constructed, narrative photograph, and a documentary style image that is taken of an actual scene taking place.
I think the fact that it is staged gives the image an entirely different context, the artist can tweak lighting, props, positioning and model's actions to convey something more psychological than illustrative.
Jeff Wall. Untangling 1994 (Printed 2006)
cibachrome photograph, light box, fluorescent light
Purchased with the assistance of NGV Contemporary, 2006
© Jeff Wall, 1994
Courtesy of the National Gallery of Victoria
www.ngv.voc.gov.au
The following photograph was taken by Steven Klein in 2005. The series was initially shot as a series for W Magazine and entitled "Domestic Bliss", but was then released as fine art photography with the title "Case Study 13".
Professional actors and real-life couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are posed to create scenes in a hotel room to show the "break-down of a once-perfect couple"(4). Although the series contains about 55 images, each single one can be read, almost as a film still, but also within it's own individual context and emotion.
The image below, for example, is style, posed and lit in such a way that shows distance, sex, violence and drama.
Steven Klein. Case Study #13, Image no 15, 2005
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
(1) www.thefreedictionary.com
(2) Excerpt from:
Tate Modern
Bankside
London SE1 9TG
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/jeffwall/rooms/room1.shtm
Bankside
London SE1 9TG
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/jeffwall/rooms/room1.shtm
(3) The Age
"Playing the ends against the middles"
Jo Roberts, 2007
Copyright © 2007. The Age Company Ltd.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/playing-the-ends-against-the-middles/2007/01/05/1167777281572.html
(4) Face of Fashion
National Portrait Gallery Publications
2007 National Portrait Gallery London
Good examples! You ask several questions at the beginning which I was hoping you would then attempt to answer - maybe if this topic interests you those answers can be explored. You obviously did quite a bit of research and critical reading, well done!
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