Staged Photography

Photographs that capture staged or artificially constructed scenes made only for the purpose of photography. While this type of image-making became well-known in the 1980s through the work of artists such as Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall, staged compositions—which have alternatively been called “tableau photographs”—have been created since the beginnings of photography. For example, 19th-century photographers such as Oscar Gustav Rejlander and Henry Peach Robinson staged classical or biblical scenes with actors. Also, some of the major inspirations for 1980s staged photographic imagery were 1920s and '30s staged portraits created by Marcel Duchamp and Claude Cahun.