tableau vivant

American  

[ta-bloh vee-vahn] / ta bloʊ viˈvɑ̃ /

noun

French.

plural

tableaux vivants

1. tableau.

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tableau vivant British  

/ tablo vivɑ̃ /

noun

1. a representation of a scene, painting, sculpture, etc, by a person or group posed silent and motionless

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Etymology

Origin of tableau vivant

Literally, “living picture”

Example Sentences

If that sounds like the way photographs were made during the camera’s 19th century infancy — well, it’s not coincidental that the tableau vivant was birthed and flourished around the same time.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 16, 2021

The vision God bless us every one, a Tudorbethan tableau vivant of bronzed meats, spice and familial merriment.

From The Guardian • Dec. 23, 2018

In one project for Hixson’s course, which focused on socially engaged art, students dressed up to create a tableau vivant, or living picture, re-creating Raphael’s masterpiece “The School of Athens.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 22, 2017

It’s a tableau vivant of a woman dressed in a golden gown, sitting on a revolving platform and playing an E-minor chord on a guitar.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 11, 2016

Painting being on a flat surface, every means are taken to give roundness and relief to the figures, which qualities of course are found naturally in a tableau vivant.

From The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness A Complete Hand Book for the Use of the Lady in Polite Society by Hartley, Florence