Tableau vivant
Related: painting - performance art
Contemporary artists working in the genre: Vanessa Beecroft
Tableau vivant, Folies Bergères c. 1920
Definition
Tableau Vivant (correct plural: Tableaux Vivants) is French for "living picture." The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit. Throughout the duration of the display, the people shown do not speak or move. The approach thus marries the art forms of the stage with those of painting/photography, and as such it has been of interest to modern photographers. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau vivant [Sept 2006]