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German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / Art theory
German term or phrase:Gestaltungswert
Unfortunately I have little context, it is a brief description of the work of a conceptual artist: "In ihrer [Kunst] geht sie von dem Gestaltungswert aus, der in den Arbeiten von Hobbymalern entsteht," this is not really described further. The term seems to be used with some frequency in German in other contexts. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks!
Explanation: But in translating, I would just leave out "value".
"In her art she channels the creativity found in the works..."
(or for a freer variant: "she is inspired by")
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For my glossary entry, I have opted for the (presumably more valuable) art-criticism sense of the term.
As in: "Hopper's colours have a formal value, of some independence beyond their ..." (http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/tatepapers/06au...
Cf. also Helen's proposal below.
Thank you Lonnie, thank you everyone for your suggestions! From the way I understand the text, this is the most suitable answer, though it may not apply in other situations. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
but I really do think this has more to do with shape/form - something tangible whereas creative is real lay-man's terminology. I guess - without having any context to go on - that I would translate gestalterische Freiheit as 'freedom of design', but then my primary specialism is in sculpture and I am perhaps just very sensitive to distinctions between the 2-D and 3-D. My question would be on what grounds do you think one should move away from formal, because I don't see any reason to be less specific since 'formal values' is such an established term. If it were a text aimed solely at the layman, then there would be an argument for adopting language that is more comprehensible, but any artist would make a distinction between formal and other values.
Our Asker will need to determine the tenor of the text evidently. I can't really imagine ever translating 'gestalterisch' as creative when 'kreativ' exists as an alternative for the author, and I do feel Stephen's solution is perhaps reading too much into the term, but let's see - none of us can see what our Asker can see.
Helen cites examples using "Gestaltungswert" as an analytical art-crit term, thus her proposal "formal values". But lacking more context, Helen, I wonder if your interpretation isn't too specific. In layman terms. "gestalten" simply means to put elements into a significant arrangement. Thus my interpretation (which may be wrong): that, here, the source term is used as a quasi-synonym of "gestalterischen Wert" (i.e. creative value).
Feeling sceptical vis-à-vis how precise German use of "Gestaltungswert" is here. Yes the formal aspects that arise in amateur painting, but "-wert" maybe more as *potential*, power, than 'value', especially as the artist *develops what she finds* in amat. art further, in her own way, so the brief quote w'd suggest. Pics of the artist's work may help you (any online?). We could be talking "decoration" with a positive slant, cf. Helen's find below. A look at the work may point to how precisely or generally "Gestaltung" might be meant.
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Answers
4 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): -1
the value of the shape
Explanation: In her art she is going out of the value of the shape, occasionally arising in amateur paintings.
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she employs the formal values of an amateur painter
But all art, in both third world and western cultural traditions, has decorative qualities, including formal values of composition and colour. The Toronto artist's phrase "mere wall decoration" indicates a lack of understanding of the fact that some art which "decorates" can also inform us with metaphor and beauty. It is not only pain that can teach us something.
Impressionist wave has made Whistler's work appear retrograde in comparison, another factor in Whistler's diminished standing in the public eye. In fact, Whistler's most original works, the Nocturnes, are closer in spirit to modern art than is Impressionism. The concentration in the Nocturnes on purely formal values of color and line traces a direct descent to the development of abstraction in the early twentieth-century. http://www.glyphs.com/art/whistler/
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Another instance where the term is used. Here it is evident that it is the value of colour as colour itself, not what can be expressed with it that is meant by Gestaltungswert. When one speaks of such a way of looking at art or the visual of any kind, it is referred to as formalism, or a concern with the form or the formal. Hence formal values as I suggest.
Limiting its interpretation to something vague like 'creativity' or 'expression' is actually worse than vague, it is ascribing to the term a meaning in direct opposition to what is actually meant.
Nach der braun- und grautonigen Malerei des 19. Jahrhunderts entdeckten die "Brücke"-Maler Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Max Pechstein und Emil Nolde die Kraft der reinen, ungebrochenen und ungemischten Farbe. Sie befreiten die Farbe von der Aufgabe bloßer Gegenstandsbeschreibung und sahen sie als eigenständigen Ausdrucks- und Gestaltungswert. Durch die Gegenüberstellung kontrastierender Farben steigerten sie deren Intensität. http://www.buchheimmuseum.de/cms/angebote/schulen.php
Helen Shiner United Kingdom Local time: 04:01 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 145
The translation workplace 
