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Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

frauenumflort

English translation:

surrounded / adorned / graced by a bevy of beauties / lovely women

Added to glossary by Helen Shiner
Feb 9, 2012 14:14
12 yrs ago
German term

frauenumflort

German to English Art/Literary Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting Book on Klimt
This is from a section on the women in Klimt's life. It seems such an extraordinary word that I wonder if it's meant to say something else:

Auch in dem Bildnis von Remigius Geyling (1878-1974), auf dem freundliche Nackte Klimt mit Speis und Trank
verwöhnen, tritt die illusorische Vorstellung vom **frauenumflorten** Künstlergenie zutage.

Thanks for any help!
Proposed translations (English)
3 +4 surrounded by a bevy of beauties
4 ever surrounded by/entwined in a bunch (or "bouquet") of women
3 embraced by women
3 encompassed by/bathing in/enwrapped by/in
3 enfolded by (the warm presence of) women
3 enclosed in a garland of women
Change log

Feb 10, 2012 14:47: Helen Shiner Created KOG entry

Discussion

hazmatgerman (X) Feb 10, 2012:
@S. Reader: Diolch, a noswaith dda. Took some time, there aren't many Welsh speakers around her. Best.
Helen Shiner Feb 10, 2012:
@Stephen New thoughts in light of image appended to my posted suggestion to avoid alliteration and irony, if you have the time...
Stephen Reader Feb 10, 2012:
@Helen 'No worries', Helen, & my thoughts - all guesswork of course, it's that sort of question (getting us fixated on garlands/ the floral), even after seeing the very helpful image. The message is plain, & yes, bevy. Best/ S.
Helen Shiner Feb 10, 2012:
@Stephen Unfortunately, I can only see a very small number of the discussion entries, so apologies if I'm repeating what you've already said. Just wanted to recap after having seen the image. Your thoughts all good, as ever, I'm sure.
Stephen Reader Feb 10, 2012:
Helen, re. basking Yes, that was precisely my own reservation (though I suggested the term). All in all, with your conclusion here re. art about art (or about public perceptions of).
Helen Shiner Feb 10, 2012:
@Rachel Thank you, that one worked for me. This is obviously intended to be rather cartoon-like and jokey. It doesn't represent Klimt's actual working practices of course, but as the German says makes humorous reference to Klimt's status as an artist. The illusory imaginings seem to be widely-held, perhaps by the public less au fait with how an artist worked then. I don't read them as belonging to Klimt or Geyling. So I will stick with my suggestion, all things considered. I hope that helps.
Rachel Ward (asker) Feb 10, 2012:
Another link to the picture http://www.lessing-photo.com/dispimg.asp?i=391602 9 &cr=9&cl... Maybe this one will work, Helen. It wouldn't load for me last night, for some reason.
Helen Shiner Feb 10, 2012:
Basking I can't see the pic unfortunately - won't download on my phone - but I can't support 'basking'. One basks in the glow of something, generally sunlight, or more figuratively the admiration of someone, but that would require adding something into the mix that is not there in the source text.
@Johanna - there would have been plenty of nudes in Klimt's studio, not just in his imagination. He worked from the model - one just needs to look at the extensive numbers of drawings and sketches he prepared in advance of any painting to see that, but it is well documented enough. I agree his paintings are flights of fantasy, of course, rather than depictions of found reality, but the women were there in the flesh in his studio all right.
hazmatgerman (X) Feb 10, 2012:
Even with the pic (courtesy of R. Ward) showing only 2 women, Ward's further background to me support the use of "basking in ..." or "surrounded by a bevy of beauties". Cause the source sentence relates, not directly to the pic but generally (for "Auch in ...") to the artist's imagination (J. Timm). Regards.
Johanna Timm, PhD Feb 9, 2012:
Ha! The only women truly floating and wafting in awe around Mr Klimt seem to come straight out of his imagination …..and materialize on the wall….!
Rachel Ward (asker) Feb 9, 2012:
Image Well, the Remigius Geyling picture (which isn't reproduced in the book) is the 11th one if you scroll down here. http://weimarart.blogspot.com/2010/12/art-history-for-dummie... It only shows 2 naked women who aren't particularly wafty and are not draped around him at all.

In the text though, it comes after a (possibly fanciful) description of Klimt's studio being full of naked women lounging or strolling around, always ready to hold still and be drawn if they happen to strike a particularly fetching pose...

The picture that does illustrate this page is this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gustav_Klimt_024.jpg The Virgin.
Stephen Reader Feb 9, 2012:
@ Helen, hear, hear!
@ hazmatgerman, Wel, dyna ni. Seems to be an erosive process that began about 1984, the privatisations/closures and resignation to one of *various*, shapeable realities - onedimensional vision. But this is griping & deviating from ProZ themes so I'll stop. Hwyl / S.
Helen Shiner Feb 9, 2012:
a pic Think we need a pic or description of the pic before can go much further with this. How are the women actually interacting with this artist as genius? Nothing like guessing about images when one is translating for making faux pas often of a hilarious kind. And there is so much potential for that here. Just how wafty are these women, are they draped around or over him, or are they swaying in an imaginary space around or above him? Are they represented as or as beoming flowers? We need to know.
hazmatgerman (X) Feb 9, 2012:
@Stephen Reader just read your profile with "UoW"; well, hello then from this "UWIST" alumnus, class of '87. Sadly, both are gone now.
Stephen Reader Feb 9, 2012:
Wreaths & passive/active voice bzw. perspective @ Johanna, Grüß' Dich! - now that's a new aspect - would fit with the morbidity of the era... so - '*swathed* in a ((courtesy Helen)) bevy of admiring women' etc.?
Thx, Helen & hazmatgerman - well, going by *your* n.s. hearing of "umflort", then I'd feel "basking" might fit; & thx, Helen, for the coffee-table-book reminder (I haven't been tracking the questions too thoroughly). Maybe Rachel (at least) does have access to the image? Best, S.
hazmatgerman (X) Feb 9, 2012:
@Stephen Reader I quite enjoy your short discussion. For me "umflort" has the women as a decoration rather than willing companions, much as Caesar wore his laurel wreath. Your "basking in a ..." also appears to hit the right tone, or does it to a n.s.'s ear? Regards.
Helen Shiner Feb 9, 2012:
@Stephen Rachel has told us elsewhere that this is a coffee table book. So far I haven't had the impression that it is overly poetic. Often though studio portraits by close fellow artists have a slightly teasing tone to them. One would need to see the image, too, to catch the right mood.
Johanna Timm, PhD Feb 9, 2012:
"frauenumflort" clearly is a play on trauerumflort.
Stephen Reader Feb 9, 2012:
Between the poetic and the ironic Something in the order of 'girthed'? What do thesauruses come up with at 'garland' ( -- > adjs. /vbs.?) My mind's playing Tabula Rasa just now, but the orig. tone says 'poetic but not overly' to me. I can see the reasoning behind 'bathed'/bathing in... too, but its (honni soit... or, OK, sois... ) connotations seem to go in an unfortunate direction. Would 'enswarmed' be too recherché a variant coinage on 'surrounded' etc.? Yes on 2nd thoughts of c'se it would. Basking amidst a flurry of.... (but 'basking' implies more about Klimt's supposed attitude than the orig. which refers only to what he is amidst) - Simply 'the artist genius amidst'? (- 'amidst a flurry of admiring women'..., risking the non-authorial 'admiring'). @ Helen, something tells me 'care' with the alliteration, re. tone of orig., it might or might not fit? Sorry to be so vague/mugwumping once again.

Proposed translations

+4
1 hr
Selected

surrounded by a bevy of beauties

'Flor' can mean 'bevy' if used figuratively. So the artist as genius surrounded by a bevy of beauties is what springs to mind.

You might also find this useful if you want to go down the route of Klimt's association of women as flowers or juxtaposed closely with them:
www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=53...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2012-02-09 16:16:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I should have added that if you click on Lot Notes on the above webpage, you'll find a long discussion about women and flowers in Klimt's work.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 22 hrs (2012-02-10 13:08:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Maybe one could rewrite this a little in order to unpack the GER: 'illusory imaginings about the artist-as-genius, his studio adorned by (a bevy) of lovely women.' This avoids the alliteration and the irony, if you wish to avoid them.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 22 hrs (2012-02-10 13:13:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Adorned, bedecked, graced? But it has to be the studio, not him, unless we were to be describing a specific image where his portrait were wreathed or encompassed by images of women (more Renaissance than this!), which we are not.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day34 mins (2012-02-10 14:48:19 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Hope it helps!
Peer comment(s):
agree hazmatgerman (X) : bevy adds that poetic touch "umflort" has in the source text.//Your understanding of German never ceases to fascinate me. Yes, for "illusorisch"; the artist's mind probably had more nudes than his real life did. Best.
12 mins
Thank you, Hazmatgerman - and a slight tinge of irony perhaps?!
agree Veronika McLaren
35 mins
Thanks, Veronika
agree Ramey Rieger (X) : Very nice, Helen!
1 hr
Thanks, Ramey
agree Stephen Reader : Like this one best - but will depend on author's tone in the passage, 'bevy' opens more toward tongue-in-cheek than 'umflort' to me (& no more'n a shift in tone if recited might persuade me otherwise) / Yes, Helen, I see your point (Naughty Klimt :-) )
4 hrs
Thanks, Stephen, difficult to resist tongue-in-cheek here! Don't know this portrait but Klimt himself can be rather arch at times, I think.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks once again Helen. There's a lot to work with here!"
33 mins

embraced by women

umflort, syn. to umhüllt, umgeben

surrounded, syn. embraced by

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=930353

http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/umfloren
Something went wrong...
48 mins

encompassed by/bathing in/enwrapped by/in

A ew suggestions
Peer comment(s):
neutral Kim Metzger : bathing in women?
16 mins
Try it, you'll like it!
neutral hazmatgerman (X) : @Ramey: maybe, depending on the women?
6 hrs
Something went wrong...
1 hr

enfolded by (the warm presence of) women

that's the image it suggests to me

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2012-02-09 15:35:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

enfolded in, rather than by
Something went wrong...
37 mins

ever surrounded by/entwined in a bunch (or "bouquet") of women

There are of course several options for rendering the image of the much adored artist.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2012-02-09 15:59:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Note the floristic connotation in "umfloren". Hence my suggestion.
Something went wrong...
8 hrs

enclosed in a garland of women

Something like that one should say to convey the tone of the German.
Something went wrong...
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