Gender, Race, and Nation in Tableau Representing Great Britain and Her Colonies

65 Thirty-five or so women, men, and children wearing costume and make-up — a considerable cast — have crowded onto a small stage to perform an allegorical tableau vivant. They are organized into a pyramid with a large base, at the apex of which stands Britannia, above the other figures, holding her characteristic trident and shield. Britannia is flanked by figures representing the forces of order : a Mountie to her left and a member of the military to her right, as well as a third, on the other side of the soldier, in blackface and wearing a costume that is indecipherable given the size, resolution, and lighting of the photograph. Right below them, three young women who represent England, Scotland, and Wales, and then more, but unreadable, personifications of countries to the left and right, some in blackface, men wearing Mountie and military uniforms, and some children sitting or reclining on the floor. Spectators watch the scene from loges to the left and right of the stage, while two rows of musicians can be seen in the pit. | fig. 1 | The title of the performance and circumstances of the event are given to us by an inscription at the bottom of the image — Tableau Representing Great Britain and Her Colonies at a Concert Given in Aid of the Widows and Orphans Created by the War with the Transvaal — which also informs us that the photo was taken by the duo Larss & Duclos at the Palace Grand Theatre in Dawson, Yukon, on February 15, 1900. The inscription bears the number 2568, in keeping with the photographers’ numbering system, as well as the information “Flash Light Photo,” a detail that alerts us to the technical prowess involved in taking the photograph. It is difficult to ascertain from what exact spot in the theatre the photograph was taken. A photo of a concert held at the Palace Grand ca. 1898 in honour of George Washington’s birthday shows the hall as rather vast, which suggests that the photographers might have stood on a contraption in the middle of the seating area built especially for the event in February 1900. | fig. 2 | The tableau vivant, by its very immobility, made it a perfect subject for such a photograph given the technical limitations of the medium at the time. Tableau Representing Great Britain and Her Colonies, which the photography historian Martha Langford has described as “a tour de force on any scale, photographic, political, or musical,”1 has yet to be examined in any detail. This article proposes one such study, specifically in relation to issues of colonialism and gender. What I will argue in this analysis of this dual object of study — the tableau vivant and the photograph of the tableau vivant — is that what might Le 15 février 1900 avait lieu à Dawson au Yukon un concert bénéfice pour venir en aide aux familles de soldats canadiens morts pendant la Guerre d’Afrique du Sud. Pendant ce concert fut présenté un tableau vivant mettant en scène environ trente-cinq femmes, hommes et enfants, costumés et en blackface, qui incarnaient la GrandeBretagne et ses colonies. Cet article propose une première lecture détaillée de ce tableau vivant pris en photo par le duo de photographes Larss et Duclos. L’analyse de ce double objet d’étude (le tableau vivant et la photo du tableau vivant) démontre que ce qui peut paraître à première vue comme une représentation anodine et quelque peu excentrique d’une performance amateure au Yukon au tournant du XXe siècle se révèle au contraire comme un marqueur et un vecteur des processus liés de la colonisation du nord-ouest du Canada et de la construction nationale du jeune pays, et que les femmes jouèrent un rôle central dans ces processus liés.