Illustrating Victorian Poetry: The Dynamics of Photographic Tableaux Vivants

This essay explores the intricate text-image relationship between Victorian poetry and their photographic illustrations by Julia Margaret Cameron, Henry Peach Robinson and Lady Hawarden. The three Victorian artists created living pictures, which are commonly referred to as tableaux vivants and which...

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Main Author: Gwendoline Koudinoff
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2019-06-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cve/5416
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author Gwendoline Koudinoff
author_facet Gwendoline Koudinoff
author_sort Gwendoline Koudinoff
collection DOAJ
description This essay explores the intricate text-image relationship between Victorian poetry and their photographic illustrations by Julia Margaret Cameron, Henry Peach Robinson and Lady Hawarden. The three Victorian artists created living pictures, which are commonly referred to as tableaux vivants and which offered visual interpretations of the following poems: Idylls of the King and The Lady of Shalott by Lord Alfred Tennyson, Tristram and Iseult by Matthew Arnold and The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti. Traditional arts such as painting, engraving and drawing attempted to illustrate the poems but the interdisciplinary nature of 19th-century photographic tableaux vivants enabled artists to associate real-based imagery with the metaphorical language of poetry. This essay therefore demonstrates how photographic tableaux vivants emulate traditional visual arts and how they exemplify a transformative and modern interpretation of Victorian poetry.
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publisher Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
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series Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
spelling doaj-art-95a4a43b5ea94c34acacf3a1f659b0922025-01-30T10:22:22ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492019-06-018910.4000/cve.5416Illustrating Victorian Poetry: The Dynamics of Photographic Tableaux VivantsGwendoline KoudinoffThis essay explores the intricate text-image relationship between Victorian poetry and their photographic illustrations by Julia Margaret Cameron, Henry Peach Robinson and Lady Hawarden. The three Victorian artists created living pictures, which are commonly referred to as tableaux vivants and which offered visual interpretations of the following poems: Idylls of the King and The Lady of Shalott by Lord Alfred Tennyson, Tristram and Iseult by Matthew Arnold and The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti. Traditional arts such as painting, engraving and drawing attempted to illustrate the poems but the interdisciplinary nature of 19th-century photographic tableaux vivants enabled artists to associate real-based imagery with the metaphorical language of poetry. This essay therefore demonstrates how photographic tableaux vivants emulate traditional visual arts and how they exemplify a transformative and modern interpretation of Victorian poetry.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/5416poetryphotographyliving picturestext/image relationshipvictorian era
spellingShingle Gwendoline Koudinoff
Illustrating Victorian Poetry: The Dynamics of Photographic Tableaux Vivants
Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
poetry
photography
living pictures
text/image relationship
victorian era
title Illustrating Victorian Poetry: The Dynamics of Photographic Tableaux Vivants
title_full Illustrating Victorian Poetry: The Dynamics of Photographic Tableaux Vivants
title_fullStr Illustrating Victorian Poetry: The Dynamics of Photographic Tableaux Vivants
title_full_unstemmed Illustrating Victorian Poetry: The Dynamics of Photographic Tableaux Vivants
title_short Illustrating Victorian Poetry: The Dynamics of Photographic Tableaux Vivants
title_sort illustrating victorian poetry the dynamics of photographic tableaux vivants
topic poetry
photography
living pictures
text/image relationship
victorian era
url https://journals.openedition.org/cve/5416
work_keys_str_mv AT gwendolinekoudinoff illustratingvictorianpoetrythedynamicsofphotographictableauxvivants