Tableaux vivant ‘Living Pictures’ | Creative play with Hinton
Available during school term
Group bookings are essential.
Please contact the Education Officer:
education@neram.com.au (02) 6772 5255
Single program: Member school, $3.50 per student
Non-member school, $5.50 per student
Teachers and supervisors are free of charge.
Tableaux vivant ‘Living Pictures’ | Creative play with Hinton
About tableaux vivant: Translated from French, tableaux vivant means ‘living pictures.’ The genre peaked in popularity between 1830 and 1920. During a performance of tableaux vivant, a cast of characters represented scenes from literature, art, history, or everyday life on a stage. After the curtain went up, the models remained silent and frozen for roughly thirty seconds. Emphasis was placed on staging, pose, costume, make-up, lighting, and the facial expression of the models. https://dramaresource.com/tableaux/
Exhibition focus, HINTON: Treasures of Australian Art: The Hinton Collection at the New England Regional Art Museum is the result of one of the greatest acts of artistic philanthropy and benefaction in Australian history. Between 1929 and 1948 a collection of over 1000 artworks by leading Australian artists were donated to the newly constructed Armidale Teachers’ College by the retired shipping agent, Howard Hinton OBE (1867-1948). The Collection provides a snapshot into Australian artistic practice in the early twentieth century, more specifically Australian Art from the 1880s – 1940s.
The exhibition HINTON: Treasures of Australian Art displays 132 works selected from the Howard Hinton Collection and provides an overview of Hinton’s aesthetic sensibility, and the quantity and quality of his collection. In this program NERAM has selected a number of paintings with carefully sourced costumes and props for students to create there own tableaux vivant. To view the collection online click here
Description of Activity:
Students will be given a guided tour of the Hinton: Treasures of Australian Art exhibition. With a focus on selected paintings students are given a poster of a painting and a series of questions for analysis, including: Who is the artist?
Who is the subject of the painting?
What does the artist see?
Can you guess what time of day it is?
How has the artist used colour to create a mood or a feeling? How does it make you feel?
To follow students will engage in dramatic play with members of their team creating a tableau of their selected painting, with other team members drawing their posing team member. Students are able to rotate, swap, ‘freeze the scene’ of other paintings, and have their photo taken as various characters in Hinton’s exhibition. This activity speaks to kinesthetic learners and activates imagination in all participants.
NERAM invites students to investigate the pose, and facial expression of characters in the paintings on display with continuous interaction with the painting they are trying to recreate. Discussions arise about the characters identity, what does this say about the subject? What is the ‘story’ of the painting…can you imagine one?
Adding props and costumes enable character development with ability for students to play ‘actor’ and ‘director’ roles. An example of a painting featured in the Hinton exhibition is below:
Lawson Balfour (1870-1966)
The Blue Lagoon 1920
oil on canvas
31.5 x 40.6 cm
Gift of Howard Hinton 1935
Dates: Available Mon-Fri during school terms.
Suitable for preschool, early stage 1 – 2.
Please note the risk assessment will be sent to centers/schools following booking confirmation.
Venue: NERAM
Cost: Member school, $3.50 per student
Non-member school, $5.50 per student
