Jan 24, 2013 15:06
11 yrs ago
French term
des créations fixes et fluides
French to English
Art/Literary
Photography/Imaging (& Graphic Arts)
Description for an art photo exhibit
This is the full paragraph
Cette exigence contemporaine oriente et amplifie des créations fixes et fluides qui révèlent une étrangeté sans cesse interprétable. Renouvelable ; la lumière expose alors cette vision particulière – d’une image l’autre – et puis explose en éclats qui fragmentent, diffractent, réfractent. Cadrages et tirages multiplient ces échappées sur un ailleurs qui demeure présent et un présent qui demeure ailleurs.
The text is very much centered on the ambiguities created by the artist's use of light.
Fixed and fluid creations, or maybe, solid and fluid, may be correct, but I would like to get some other opinions.
Cette exigence contemporaine oriente et amplifie des créations fixes et fluides qui révèlent une étrangeté sans cesse interprétable. Renouvelable ; la lumière expose alors cette vision particulière – d’une image l’autre – et puis explose en éclats qui fragmentent, diffractent, réfractent. Cadrages et tirages multiplient ces échappées sur un ailleurs qui demeure présent et un présent qui demeure ailleurs.
The text is very much centered on the ambiguities created by the artist's use of light.
Fixed and fluid creations, or maybe, solid and fluid, may be correct, but I would like to get some other opinions.
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
+2
1 hr
Selected
compositions that are both static and dynamic
This paragraph and the last seem to be describing artwork that simultaneously embodies opposing elements or qualities. Sometimes in French I feel like it's possible to get away with very tight little noun-adjective packets that the reader must unpack for him/herself. In English I tend to want to unpack it a little more, which I why I opted for a noun clause.
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Note added at 10 days (2013-02-03 22:18:33 GMT) Post-grading
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thank you!
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Note added at 10 days (2013-02-03 22:18:33 GMT) Post-grading
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thank you!
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Ann Drummond (X)
: I think this formulation works best, as it sounds natural in terms of art terminology. A shorter formulation could incorporate Phil's suggestion: static, yet dynamic compositions
16 hrs
|
agree |
GILLES MEUNIER
3 days 1 hr
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks for your discussion of the French use of "noun-adjective packets, which I found very helpful for this as well as other such similar problems"
5 mins
firm and fluid
What about "firm and fluid"?
Example sentence:
Court painter Gu Kaizhi sets a style, as seen in his Admonitions of the Court Instructress, for figure paintings that incorporates firm and fluid brushwork and subtle expression, which is revered for millennia.
2 hrs
still yet volatile creations
*
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Note added at 2 heures (2013-01-24 17:43:50 GMT)
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or frozen and flowing
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Note added at 2 heures (2013-01-24 17:43:50 GMT)
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or frozen and flowing
+1
2 hrs
fixed, yet fluid creations
A literal translation works perfectly well, so I don't think there's any need to look for synonyms. I'm assuming that they're talking about a single image being both fixed and fluid, which is why I suggest 'yet' rather than 'and'.
Note from asker:
Thank you very much for your input. It is certainly an elegant way of dealing with the French "x +y" description that doesn't translate literally to English. |
3 hrs
Fixed and fluid creations
Imho
Discussion