Striking an attitude : tableaux vivants in the British long nineteenth century
This thesis examines one instance of the long nineteenth-centuryâs engagement with the Antique: the medium of entertainment known as tableaux vivants. In tableau vivant performances, men, women and children were arranged into motionless (or nearmotionless) configurations, and presented to audiences in parlour rooms, pleasure gardens, circuses, public houses, exhibition halls, variety theatres and music halls. Many performances derived inspiration from Antique statues or classicising paintings, although some captured elements of distant cultures. All performances collapsed distances in space and time, permitting spectators to view â with arresting immediacy â both human bodies and the ideals or ideas which these bodies represented. Performances worked to consolidate the notion of a correspondence between ancient Greek and Roman societies and modern British society, as critics and impresarios proclaimed tableaux performers to represent vessels through which an impression (or a âsenseâ) of Antiquity was conveyed. Even those tableaux performances which instantiated âforeignâ peoples served to underline this correspondence, representing the inverse of the âcivilisedâ ancient societies to which
Stevens, Elena
Striking an attitude : tableaux vivants in the British long nineteenth century. This thesis examines one instance of the long nineteenth-centuryâs engagement with the Antique: the medium of entertainment known as tableaux vivants. In tableau vivant performances, men, women and children were arranged into motionless (or nearmotionless) configurations, and presented to audiences in parlour rooms, pleasure gardens, circuses, public houses, exhibition halls, variety theatres and music halls. Many performances derived inspiration from Antique statues or classicising paintings, although some captured elements of distant cultures. All performances collapsed distances in space and time, permitting spectators to view â with arresting immediacy â both human bodies and the ideals or ideas which these bodies represented. Performances worked to consolidate the notion of a correspondence between ancient Greek and Roman societies and modern British society, as critics and impresarios proclaimed tableaux performers to represent vessels through which an impression (or a âsenseâ) of Antiquity was conveyed. Even those tableaux performances which instantiated âforeignâ peoples served to underline this correspondence, representing the inverse of the âcivilisedâ ancient societies to which
striking attitude british long examine instance long nineteenth_century engagement antique medium entertainment know performance men_woman child arrange configuration present audience room pleasure garden public house exhibition hall variety theatre music hall many performance derive inspiration antique painting although element distant culture performance collapse distance space_time permit spectator view arrest immediacy human_body ideal idea body represent work consolidate notion correspondence ancient greek_roman society modern british_society critic proclaim performer represent vessel impression sense antiquity convey even performance instantiate foreign people serve underline correspondence represent civilise ancient_society