Tableau

A tableau vivant (or simply tableau) is a French term used in theatre to refer to a silent, static scene, performed by actors or models in costume - thus combining aspects of theatre and the visual arts.

(Sometimes one finds it referred to in the plural as tableaus in Englosh. In Afrikaans it is known as a tablo and tablos.)

Strictly speaking the French term originally referred to a small desk, but is now more commonly known internationally as the term for what may be termed a "living picture".

In theatrical terms this normally points to a silent, static scene, performed by actors or models in costume - thus combining aspects of theatre and the visual arts.

Today the practice is also found in some films and TV dramas, and continues as a live entertainment in the "living statues of street performers.

It has also been a feature of the visual arts, occurring in many works of the Romantic, Aesthetic, Symbolist, Pre-Raphaelite, and Art Nouveau movements for instance.

Sources

[1], i.e. "living picture") and historical enactment.