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  3. Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting

tapis dans l'ombre

English translation: hidden/crouching in the shadows

21:12 Nov 13, 2010
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
French term or phrase: tapis dans l'ombre
Can anyone tell me if this is a set expression in French and if so what it means? Googling it brings up lots of uses of it. This comes from a text in which the artist is talking about the paintings 'qui tapissent les murs de ma chambre.' She then describes them as being 'tapis dans l'ombre.' Can anyone help?

Thanks!
Claire Knell
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:28
English translation:hidden/crouching in the shadows
Explanation:
It depends on the rest of the context: why does the artist say this about the paintings?

Selected response from:

Claire Nolan
Local time: 08:28
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4hidden away
Catherine Gilsenan
4lurking in the light
Euqinimod (X)
3hidden/crouching in the shadows
Claire Nolan
3papering the walls...blending into the wallpaper
Denise DeVries
3gathering dust in the shadows
Bourth (X)
Summary of reference entries provided
se tapir
Bourth (X)
the actual (con)text
writeaway

  

Answers


49 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
hidden/crouching in the shadows


Explanation:
It depends on the rest of the context: why does the artist say this about the paintings?



Claire Nolan
Local time: 08:28
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Colin Morley (X)
35 mins
  -> Thanks.
disagree  Maia Tabet: paintings CROUCHING in the shadows doesn't at all convey the French which suggests an almost dissolving quality
5 hrs
  -> I don't have the full context. These personified paintings may be crouching in fear, or crouching ready to surprise the next person who views them. Only the asker knows the context. You are sure of the context? Please post your answer!
neutral  writeaway: fyi, here's the context: http://www.proz.com/kudoz/french_to_english/art_arts_crafts_...
20 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
papering the walls...blending into the wallpaper


Explanation:
'qui tapissent les murs de ma chambre.' papering the walls of my room 'tapis dans l'ombre.' blending into the wallpaper.
If you live with paintings long enough, they become part of the room.

Denise DeVries
United States
Local time: 08:28
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
gathering dust in the shadows


Explanation:
"Gathering dust" not only being one of the things carpets and tapestries do best but also implying that something is abandoned and forgotten, in the figurative shadows of the mind if not the literal shadows of a room.

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Note added at 13 hrs (2010-11-14 10:22:46 GMT)
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If we assume the text Writeaway had found is indeed the passage concerned, despite it being cachés dans l'ombre, then it is clear these are not "paintings", as presented in the Question, but shapes the antagonist can make out or imagine in the shadows, stains, relief, etc. I have the same phenomenon in my bathroom, where paint peels off to reveal shapes of birds, elephants, faces, and giant penises.
Since these shape appear to be as much figments of the person's imagination as anything else, and certainly not paintings, then maybe you need a word like "lurking" or "skulking" (for the dans l'ombre bit anyway).

Shades of Harry Potter.

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Note added at 13 hrs (2010-11-14 10:28:57 GMT)
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"Who are these unknown beings who people my walls? How long have they been there, lurking in the shadows, watching/spying on me".

This is making me paranoid too, and I just know those giant penises will take their revenge.


Bourth (X)
Local time: 14:28
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 94
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15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
hidden away


Explanation:
-

Catherine Gilsenan
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:28
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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21 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
lurking in the light


Explanation:
....

Euqinimod (X)
Local time: 14:28
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 20
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Reference comments


2 hrs peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: se tapir

Reference information:
Your tapis has nothing to do with carpets or tapestries, other than as - I presume - a play on words.

It's the past participle, in the masculine plural, of the verb se tapir :

Se tapir: se cacher en se ramassant sur soi-même, en se blottissant. Partager sur ... Se tapir contre une muraille. Se tapir derrière une haie. ...
www.mediadico.com/dictionnaire/definition/tapir/1

In other contexts it may well mean "transmogrify into a long-snouted pig-like Amazonian quadruped", but that is a very rare usage indeed.

As has already been asked, we'd need to have more context to come up with a proper translation.

Bourth (X)
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 94

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  writeaway: http://aureliafrey.over-blog.com/categorie-11378607.html
1 hr
  -> Looks like the same text, only it has cachés dans l'ombre!
agree  Claire Nolan: Yes, and one can crouch out of fear, or in order to attack; need more context to know what the author means.
13 hrs
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2 hrs peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: the actual (con)text

Reference information:
Texte d'Emmanuel Lurin pour le catalogue de la Casa de Velazquez. A paraître Juin 2010
Historien d'Art
Maître de conférences à l’université de Paris-Sorbonne


La pièce est sombre et les persiennes sont fermées. Du dehors filtre un jour blanc et brûlant que je ne laisserai pas rentrer. Dans ma chambre noire, je me suis retirée seule. J’ai renoncé au monde, j’ai retrouvé le silence. Plus personne, plus d’objet, plus rien. Qu’une clarté pâle qui glisse sur les murs, révélant sur son passage des taches dans le papier, des fissures, comme de croûtes de peinture. Cette nuit, pourtant, j’ai cru voir autre chose dans son reflet d’argent : un sourire, un oiseau, un visage mangé d’ombre dont l’œil unique était posé sur moi. Qui sont ces êtres que j’ignore et qui tapissent les murs de ma chambre ? Depuis combien de temps sont-ils là, cachés dans l’ombre, à me regarder ?

http://aureliafrey.over-blog.com/categorie-11378607.html

writeaway
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Imanol: "cachés dans l'ombre à me regarder" est exactement le sens du mot tapis ici (avec l'idée d'une menace imprécise), ce qui pourrait donner quelque chose comme "lurking in the dark"
18 hrs
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