The Photographer's Eye: Graphic Guide

TABLEAU

Lunch party, Cartagena, Colombia, 2012

This is a term from classical painting and theatre, and means, strictly speaking, a group of figures formally arranged to represent a historical scene. More generally, it’s come to mean a set piece, an arrangement of things happening at a certain moment—perfect, or at least good and timely. The most famous of all—and let’s get it out of the way—is Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. This image here is not a reference to that nor an imitation of it, but the interesting thing is that the Last Supper has become so iconic that almost any squared-up image of a long table with people sitting at it, talking, ...