Grenzgänger

English translation: Walking the (fine) line between fine art and applied art

18:54 Oct 23, 2008

German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / Expressionismus

German term or phrase: Grenzgänger

Need help with the header of an article about Cesar Klein:

Cesar Klein
**Grenzgänger** zwischen freier und angewandter Kunst

Text: ... Seine besondere Liebe galt dabei dem Expressionisten Cesar Klein, der einst zur künstlerischen Avantgarde in Deutschland zählte und dessen OEuvre auch heute noch Anerkennung findet.
In dem nachfolgenden Artikel von Dr. Uwe Haupenthal erfahren Sie mehr über diesen Ausnahmekünstler.
Wie nur wenigen Künstlern im 20. Jahrhundert gelang dem 1876 in Hamburg geborenen Maler, Graphiker und Designer Cesar Klein die Verbindung zwischen sogenannter freier und angewandter Kunst.

Mir ist bisher "Explorer of the Space between Free and Applied Arts" als Ueberschrift eingefallen, bin aber kein Kunstkenner und weiss nicht, ob das in diesem Fall angebracht ist.

Friderike Butler KudoZ activity Questions: 143 (none open) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 389 United States
Local time: 23:07

English translation:Walking the (fine) line between fine art and applied art

Explanation:
I don't think we call "freie Kunst" free art in English.

"Fine art means that a skill is being used to express the artist’s creativity, or to engage the audience’s aesthetic sensibilities (...) On the other hand, crafts and design are sometimes considered applied art. Some art followers have argued that the difference between fine art and applied art has more to do with value judgments made about the art than any clear definitional difference."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art

There can be a very fine line between "fine art" and "applied art". I don't know if your article deals with this specific aspect of Klein's work. There was a very heated debate about "arts vs. crafts" during his career as an artist. Bauhaus was one of the first schools to cross this line with its highly artistic yet functional designs.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2008-10-23 21:55:29 GMT)
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Hi, Friderike. Yes, there are quite a few sources out there that refer to "free art" (meaning "freie Kunst"), but a very suspiciously large number of them are German websites. No free art – and no free hot lunch! ;-)

Art movements evolve and split off and merge. I haven't read the full article, so I don't know if the play on words with "fine" (fine line - fine art) would fit your context. That's why I placed it in parentheses. Obviously, walking a fine line would imply that the artist didn't want to be pinned down.

However, walking the line between two movements or genres is a common enough expression for people who venture into new artistic territory. Andy Warhol, for example, walked the line between pop culture and art. In other words, he linked these two elements in a memorable way.

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Note added at 15 hrs (2008-10-24 10:05:00 GMT)
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Coming back to your original idea, I really don't see why you couldn't say "Exploring the realm between fine art and applied art" or "Exploring the territory..." or "Exploring the space..."

Another idea: "Cesar Klein: Bridging the gap between fine art and applied art"

Selected response from:

Paul Cohen
Greenland
Local time: 02:07

Grading comment

Interesting discussion and a lot of good suggestions. In the end, I took Paul's suggestion of Exploring the real between for the article I am working on... The article describes that Klein created an entirely new way of combining different techniques and approaches, so that his work is more than just crossing over and working in idenpendently known territories. Otherwise, I would have selected a "crossing over" version. Will enter both in directory...
Thanks, everyone!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +4

crossing borders

AndriyRubashnyy

4 +2

In the border country/on the borderline between fine and applied arts

Helen Shiner

3 +3

Walking the (fine) line between fine art and applied art

Paul Cohen

3 +3

moving easily between ...

jccantrell

3 +2

blurring the line between...

Eva Finkemeier

2 +2

wanderer

gangels (X)

border crosser

Alex Khanin

2 +1

cross-over artist

Jonathan MacKerron

Answers

7 mins confidence:

border crosser

Explanation:
why not?

Alex Khanin
Germany
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Russian

17 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

crossing borders

Explanation:
Cesar Klein: Crossing Borders between Free and Applied Arts

as an example such a link

Artist as Grenzgänger: Crossing Borders with Virginia Woolf

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/rwcr/2002/000...

AndriyRubashnyy
Local time: 06:07
Native speaker of:

Ukrainian,

Russian

Notes to answerer

Asker: Nice link - thank you!

19 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

blurring the line between...

Explanation:
Just an idea.

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Note added at 49 mins (2008-10-23 19:43:58 GMT)
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I think "Grenzgaenger" does not necessarily mean "crossing" the borders, but walking along the fine line separating them.

Eva Finkemeier
United States
Local time: 22:07
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English,

German

53 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

cross-over artist

Explanation:
suggested by Muret Sanders

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-10-23 20:45:04 GMT)
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or "crossing over between..."

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-10-23 20:46:27 GMT)
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on the cusp of

Jonathan MacKerron
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 28

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

wanderer

Explanation:
like 'wanderer between two worlds'... I find most fitting here

gangels (X)
Local time: 21:07
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English,

German
PRO pts in category: 39

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

In the border country/on the borderline between fine and applied arts

Explanation:
As a suggestions for the title.....

Art historically the word primitive has been used in three different ways: to designate art, before Raphael, on the borderline between the mediaeval and the renaissance traditions; to label the trophies and curiosities taken from the colonies (Africa, Caribbean, south pacific) when brought back to the imperial metropolis;

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artforum/topic_view/topic/9...

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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-10-23 21:50:21 GMT)
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@ Paul and in general. Klein was like many avant-garde artists of his period in borrowing/drawing inspiration, etc. from both the fine and applied arts - see below. the Grenzgänger here means he could work in many media and was not locked into tight disciplines. Prior to the early 20th century the applied arts were most definitely considered inferior to the fine arts, for the reason I give in my comment to Paul, but it changed at this time -Gauguin lead the way. Suddenly it was fine to be able to make things or have craftsman make things according to one's design,whereas the split between the disciplines was not to be crossed. Klein was not unusual in this, nor was it a risky ploy. No need for walking 'thin lines', since it was about broadening out the frames of reference.

"At his father's persistent urging, Cesar Klein served an apprenticeship as a painter before attending the Hamburg School for the Applied Arts from 1894. Later he also attended the Düsseldorf Art Academy and the school attached to the Berlin Applied Arts Museum. From 1900 the artist lived in Berlin, where he had his first successes with illustrating books, making stained-glass windows and murals. The paintings of this early period reveal the influence of Cézanne and the French Impressionists. In 1910 he was among the twenty-seven artists eliminated by the jury from the Berlin Secession who went on from there to found the 'Neue Sezession' ['New Secession']. By about 1912 Klein had developed an Expressionist style of his own in which his intensive preoccupation with Cubism soon became palpable. With time Klein would come to study the work of Picasso in all that painter's stylistic phases, the reflections of which would crucially shape his own style."

http://www.cesar-klein.com/

Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:07
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 275

50 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

Walking the (fine) line between fine art and applied art

Paul Cohen
Greenland
Local time: 02:07
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 26

Grading comment

Notes to answerer

Asker: You are right on my blunder with "free art", didn't check my references well enough and the site that I looked at which promoted "Freie Kunst - Arte Libre - Free Art" was actually that: a site that offered art work for free in form of downloads... Thanks for pointing out my mistake!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

neutral

Lonnie Legg: Yes, it is subtle (but there's no getting around it): Your title could be read "Walking the LINE BETWEEN" or "WALKING THE LINE between" (="doing what you're supposed to do")--which is what (no offense intended) I don't like about the suggestion.

38 mins

-> Sorry, Lonnie, but "walk (toe) the line" is NOT the same as "walk the line between x and y". It's subtle, it means you're hard to pin down, you dabble in this and that. Andy Warhol, for example, walked the line between pop culture and art.

neutral

Helen Shiner: It is neither risky nor risqué, and I am not confused, thank you very much./If there is one field I know anything about, then this is it!

41 mins

-> Please see my comment to Lonnie. // "fine" is an optional play on words (fine line - fine art). // I think you may be confusing risky with risqué, Helen.

agree

Nicole Schnell: Exactly.

1 hr

agree

Nandini Vivek: With Nicole

11 hrs

agree

roereeve (X)

3 days 15 hrs

33 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

moving easily between ...

Explanation:
Another possibility, just by rephrasing since the 'border' reference does not appear to be needed later.

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Note added at 19 hrs (2008-10-24 14:34:50 GMT)
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Or, it was the resentment from each faction for the fact that he could move easily between them?

jccantrell
United States
Local time: 20:07
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

Notes to answerer

Asker: Nice linguistic option, but apparently at the time it wasn't easy for Cesar Klein at all to move from one genre to the other and prompted a lot of critique on either side of the imaginary line.

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Grenzgänger

English translation: Walking the (fine) line between fine art and applied art

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