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glacis géométriques
en verdure

Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

peinture lâchée

English translation:

loose style of painting

Added to glossary by Laura Bennett
Sep 3, 2014 08:13
9 yrs ago
French term

peinture lâchée

French to English Art/Literary Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting Report on urban and street art
Talking about a painter's technique. Context: "les œuvres d’Ernest Zacharevic sont marquées par une peinture plus **lâchée**". What is the English word for "lâchée" here, please? Thanks in advance!
Proposed translations (English)
3 +3 loose style of painting
3 +1 less rigid
4 free-and-easy
4 -3 drops of paint / paint dropped
2 -1 unfinished painting
References
Check out the artist...
Change log

Sep 9, 2014 10:40: Laura Bennett Created KOG entry

Discussion

kashew Sep 3, 2014:
@ Nicky Just who is EZ being compared to please?
Perhaps the writer means "moins léchée"?!!
Howard Sugar Sep 3, 2014:
Traité complet de la Peinture, Jacques Nicola Paillot de Montabert 1829

Lachée, On entend trés souvent les artists et les amateur employer le mot lâché, manière lâchée, pour dire lâche et négligée. Il convient de faire observer que le mot lâché n'est point français dans ce sens. Une peinture, une partie de tableau qui n'est point assez étudiée, assez rendue, n’est point lâchée, elle est lâché ou négligée, ou encore, s’il est per permit d’employer ce mot, relâchée.
B D Finch Sep 3, 2014:
@Francis Rather than us presuming, it would be useful if the Asker could elucidate this. The Cézanne reference, is actually a quotation from Delacroix, referred to by Cézanne. "Lâchée" could even reference the phrase "ne lâchons rien", which has a political meaning.
Francis Marche Sep 3, 2014:
Plus lâchée que celles d'autres artistes commentés, presumably.
"plus lâchée" could be anything from "sloppier" (the Cezanne reference to "neglect") to "wilder", "bolder", "free abandon" and what not.
B D Finch Sep 3, 2014:
More context? "plus **lâchée**" que quoi ?
Chris Maddux Sep 3, 2014:
How about "radical street art" or satirical epigrams!
Chris Maddux Sep 3, 2014:
careless, random, or erratic style
Chris Maddux Sep 3, 2014:
I do like the haphazard style Laura speaks of, but the context of what is given it doesn't fit well, neither does loose style of painting.
Howard Sugar Sep 3, 2014:
The original sense of lâchée in painting was "negected" in the sense that large parts of the painting were left in a relatively unfinished or unrefined state.
Cézanne: “ La peinture lâchée est la peinture d'un lâche.
Francis Marche Sep 3, 2014:
I suppose there is no "definite" English word for this here. You (we) need to have a look at these works and see what idea the French copy writer had in mind when using "lâchées" in this context. The context is pictorial, not textual in your question. There's no point in guessing what English word will best describe something we don't see.

Proposed translations

+3
16 mins
Selected

loose style of painting

"Loose" would be my translation of this, referring to a style of painting that is more relaxed and haphazard. "Loose" on its own sounds a little odd in this sentence so I think "style" works as a modifier.
This is a term often used by artists and in art texts - see link.
Reference:

http://www.andrewpitt.co.uk/feature1.html

Peer comment(s):
agree Helene Tammik : Sorry Laura, our messages crossed!
3 mins
Thanks Helene - no problem!
agree Helen Shiner
4 hrs
agree philgoddard
8 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks for your help."
+1
18 mins

less rigid

perhaps
Peer comment(s):
agree kashew : If compared to Andersen, yes: a lot less less rigid, or formal
4 hrs
Something went wrong...
-3
4 mins

drops of paint / paint dropped

http://fr.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?rd=1&word=lâchée...



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Note added at 5 mins (2014-09-03 08:18:53 GMT)
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http://fr.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?rd=1&word=lâchée

broken link for first comment.

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Note added at 22 mins (2014-09-03 08:35:48 GMT)
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drops of paint possibly splashed onto a canvas.
Peer comment(s):
disagree Francis Marche : The comparative "plus" lâchées definitely points to another meaning of the term. //???
10 mins
http://www.wordreference.com/fren/plus
disagree Duncan Moncrieff : You've got the artist's name look at his work - as Francis writes, you answer doesn't make any sense here.// Your term, for me, evoked something like splatter art or drip painting like that of Jackson Pollock - not at all the same style.
51 mins
Even having seen his work, it doesn't put into context the exact work that is being talked about in the translation...
disagree kashew : Way off, sorry.
3 hrs
Something went wrong...
-1
35 mins

unfinished painting

In spite of the translation as "cowardly painting" in the following references, I cannot believe that this is what is meant and suspect that the translation of Delacroix's words (sometimes attributed to Cézanne) is wrong and misses a play on words.

www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL.../Harrison_Wood.pd...
Remembering the phrase of Delacroix: `Cowardly painting is the painting of a coward', the Neo-Impressionists could be proud of their austere and simple ...

scans.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/4/15/.../lapeintureanglai00lasiuoft.pdf
recherche constante du défini, cette haine de la peinture lâchée qui, selon le mot de Delacroix, est « la peinture d'un lâche », conduit. Hunt à charger de détails ...

I had considered whether this could mean "loose brushwork", but as Delacroix made a virtue of that, it cannot be the meaning and doesn't apply to Ernest Zacharevic's work.



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Note added at 54 mins (2014-09-03 09:07:27 GMT)
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e.g. https://www.flickr.com/photos/zonesdesign/7525434558/?rb=1
Peer comment(s):
disagree Duncan Moncrieff : Sorry, but from having looked at his works, you can't really call them unfinished...
19 mins
I think you can call some of them "unfinished", not in the sense of uncompleted, but in the sense of not being highly finished.
neutral philgoddard : Any painter can use loose brushwork - Frans Hals was particularly known for his.
8 hrs
Indeed, but my point was that Delacroix wouldn't have been saying bad things about something that was one of his particular talents!
Something went wrong...
2 hrs

free-and-easy

lively, one reviewer has used "vivacious"...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 heures (2014-09-03 12:11:22 GMT)
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Playful also springs to mind.
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

52 mins
Reference:

Check out the artist...

"Earnest Zacharevic paints free hand murals from pictures he creates. He either draws a small version of the mural or he takes a photograph and then paints it using the square-by-square technique. What is more interesting and made me choose him is his ability and desire to incorporate the existing world or physical world. Often he would have a physical object to complement the action of the person in the mural. His painting is also very interesting. It has that olden comic look that reminds me a little bit of pop art and flatness. He never uses paste-ups, just his own painting skills and some guidelines."

http://mariad.iics-k12.com/2013/01/13/street-art-who-what-an...
http://artistaday.com/?p=15891
http://www.zachas.com/index.php/murals/

From having looked at the artist's work and what people say about it, it looks more like he has a loose, relaxed, liberated style of painting.
Something went wrong...
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