Steven A. Mansbach in his study of the a meta-critique of the discourse surrounding the emergence of large-scale, color photography around 1980 (Jeff Wall, Andreas Gursky, Candida Hofer and Thomas Struth) and the concurrent “return to painting” refers to the work of Jean-François Chevrier. Mansbach says that beginning in the 1980s, photography changed notably in terms of its physical enlargement and adoption of the tableau form, thus moving it into the realm of “high” art. He adds:

Chevrier distinguishes the photographic tableau that emerged around 1980 from photographic forms prevalent during the late 1960s and 1970s, such as those considered by Crimp. For conceptual artists, the typically black-and-white and often amateurish photograph was a document, often combined with text and exhibited in open-ended series; it sometimes functioned as a means of experimenting with and demonstrating human perception. The conceptual art photograph was not an object before which one would pause, did not face the viewer at the level of the body, and had no real visual authority. The tableau is a singular work, neither visually nor conceptually connected to any other.

Chevrier argues for the exhaustion of conceptual strategies for photography and for the importance of the tableau format that draws upon painting and theater. Below is a video on Chevrier's seminar on The Tableau Form: Methodology & Composition Part I