Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Petersburger Hängung

English translation:

salon hang

Added to glossary by Helen Shiner
Aug 19, 2009 11:37
14 yrs ago
3 viewers *
German term

Petersburger Hängung

German to English Art/Literary Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
wie würde man in Englisch "Petersburger Hängung" übersetzen. Es ist eine Art Bilder an einer Wand verteilt aufzuhängen, wurde im Zarenreich gemacht und heißt deshalb so.

(The Goethe Institut calls it Petersburg hanging. Is that correct?)
Change log

Sep 16, 2009 12:47: Helen Shiner Created KOG entry

Discussion

Helen Shiner Aug 24, 2009:
Stephen Oh dear....
Stephen Reader Aug 24, 2009:
ff auctoritas incidentally Goldcoaster,
Wish I could agree, but sometimes if we did, we'd be playing Emperor's New Clothes. Cf. the current first entry at http://www.linguee.de/search?query=raumgreifend&x=74&y=14
Stephen Reader Aug 20, 2009:
authorities/ not taking-for-granted of With Helen both re. suggestions and the likelihood that a lit. trans. is likely to be incorrect (to date); ('even') the Goethe Inst. may well have had a 'non-native' translation or under our usual rush conds., an unsubstantiated guess where Petersburg was concerned. The most (widely) understandable alternative is surely in Helen's entry here - 'floor-to-ceiling hanging', 'the exh. space was hung floor-to-ceiling fashion with.... ' etc. Or my alternative below. In the late 1980s one exh. in a quick-change series (artist project, 'Slalom/Salon', Düsseldorf) had Petersb. H. as its title (and lived up to it). & the Salon trad. explicit there too.
Helen Shiner Aug 19, 2009:
Curtailed by word limit The above post taken from
http://vschneider.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/gentlemanly-hang/
Helen Shiner Aug 19, 2009:
Salon hang 2 The Salons in France, exhibitions organized by the Académie de Beaux Arts, displayed paintings based on the idea that “more is more”: paintings were hung right next to each other, above each other, under each other; every wall was crammed with what was thought to be the best of the best (read: the most conservative and least challenging). The “salon hang” continued long into the 19th century, despite the fact that the “art-historical” hang came to dominate the logic of display in the late 18th and early 19th century. In fact, if my memory serves me right, the Louvre (before its magnificent renovation) still clung to the salon hang: the painting galleries were dark and claustrophobic; a glass of wine too many and the visitor felt as if the walls were collapsing on him, dragged down by the weight of hundreds of years of painting, Greek tragedies, and shipwrecks at sea.

The “art-historical” hang signals the transition from private collections meant for the few to public museums meant for everyone. Whereas private collections impressed, public museums were intended to instruct. Curators, taking cues from the fledgling discipline of art history, arranged collections ch
Helen Shiner Aug 19, 2009:
salon hang I think this is likely to be the equivalent term. Apparently similar to the mosaic hang but with ragged edges - ie hung as paintings were in the 19th century/Victorian salons.

During the twentieth century the tradition of the salon hang seemed lost as modernism decreed that paintings be hung in isolation, surrounded by large areas of white space. Hanging work salon style became associated more with the amateur art society than the cutting edge. However, the casual nature of the salon hang seems appropriate to a new generation of painters who care little for the distinctions between high and low and are willing to borrow equally from both. An underlying theme of these works can be found in the irreverent sampling of imagery or techniques from art history, hobbyist art or the mass media alike.

The massed clusters of pictures, hung floor to ceiling, will provide an overwhelming display of the aesthetic richness, confidence and diversity of current painting.
http://www.delfina.org.uk/exh/pr_salon.html

This at least would mean something to a wider audience, as well as museology types.
Alison MacG Aug 19, 2009:
For info There seems to be a US term "mosaic hang" used to describe an entire wall of art:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/06/...

In this related link, one poster even comments
"we (in Europe) call the mosaic hang "St. Petersburg hang", actually ..."
(It turns out this poster is from Germany)
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/the-art-of-hanging-art-on...

Edith Kelly Aug 19, 2009:
Petersburger hanging is also found on the Internet, mostly German, Dutch and Eastern sites. A description with photos can also be found, but there may be a different term used in UK/US
Rolf Keiser Aug 19, 2009:
Goethe Institute don't mess with their (professional) definition/interpretation
Helen Shiner Aug 19, 2009:
Hello again I would say that it probably is not incorrect but the style may be known by another name in the EN-speaking world.
njbeckett (asker) Aug 19, 2009:
Sorry, no, I forwarded the entire e-mail above.
Helen Shiner Aug 19, 2009:
Hi All refs on Google are translations from the German except perhaps for this one: http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/reflections_on_painting/

Do you have a description of the type of hanging in question?

Proposed translations

+1
20 hrs
Selected

salon hang

As per my refs posted elsewhere on this page and the further information provided by Johanna. Please note the salon hang dates from the same period and might loosely be termed Victorian. This term is very familiar to me as an art historian and former student of museology. I have never heard of the mosaic hang, though of course do not dispute its use. If the GER text is using such a term, I could only presume an informed readership, or they would instead use something like Stephen's suggestion. Hopefully it is possible to tell from the context.

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Note added at 28 days (2009-09-16 12:48:44 GMT) Post-grading
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Thanks for the points, njbeckett
Peer comment(s):

agree Johanna Timm, PhD : almost forgot to agree here:-)
4 days
Thanks, Johanna
Something went wrong...
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Difficult to decide here. Thanks to everyone."
2 hrs

Peterburg hanging

I'd say the institut is correct

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Note added at 2 uren (2009-08-19 14:12:23 GMT)
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Peterburg of course, sorry

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Note added at 2 uren (2009-08-19 14:12:48 GMT)
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Petersburg
Peer comment(s):

neutral Stephen Reader : Never encountered it in native-Anglo-Sax. yet (which doesn't mean it doesn't exist, of cse)
10 hrs
Something went wrong...
14 hrs

...hung wall-to-wall...

As a further alternative to Helen and Johanna's 'floor-to-ceiling' (which is instantly widely meaningful and literally more precise than wall-to-wall as the works referred to probably aren't on the floor as in 'w.-to-w. carpeting'...) or 'salon hang'; as you say, the latter presuming the readers' familiarity with the salon/ C19 hanging trad.; or it's elaborated on in the text. 'Wall to wall' would intimate the cramming, as would 'floor to ceiling'.
Example sentence:

The exhibition space was crammed wall-to-wall with miscellaneous works, salon-fashion...

Peer comment(s):

neutral Helen Shiner : agree as a possibility, but I just wonder whether it would match the more informed tone of the GER. Not that we have much to go on.
6 hrs
Thanks, Helen. Yes, tone shd match, of course. Just made my e-Langenschdt addendum based on this question.
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

8 hrs
Reference:

"salon hang" as per Helen's suggestion:

Petersburger Hängung: http://shortify.com/9191
Salon Hang: http://shortify.com/9192


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Note added at 14 hrs (2009-08-20 01:57:42 GMT)
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"Die Petersburger Hängung bezeichnet eine besonders enge Reihung von Gemälden. Häufig reichen diese bis an die Decke, die Rahmen der Werke hängen dicht beieinander.

Hintergrund

Die Bezeichnung geht auf die üppig behängten Wände der Sankt Petersburger Eremitage zurück.

Sie bringt eine veränderte Intention bei der Ausstellung von Kunstwerken zum Ausdruck, die sich im Lauf der Geschichte vollzogen hat: Die Petersburger Hängung zielt darauf ab, den Betrachter durch die schiere Menge der versammelten Kunstwerke zu beeindrucken. Objekt der Bewunderung ist letztlich nicht das einzelne Bild, sondern derjenige, der über die Mittel verfügt, eine große Kunstsammlung zusammenstellen zu können.

Demgegenüber lässt die heute gebräuchliche, weitaus sparsamere Hängung von Bildern das Einzelkunstwerk (und den Künstler) stärker hervortreten."
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petersburger_Hängung

"The most commonly used professional layouts for hanging art are the Salon, Paris, Totem, Mosaic, Series and Asymmetrical Hangs.
[...]Salon Hang
Select a group of art works with a common theme such as colour, medium, artist, subject matter or even frame type. The art works need to be of different sizes and can be centred or lined up above each other and next to each other. Spacing between the art works should be kept consistent to avoid the presentation appearing too random."
(includes picture of salon hang)
http://shortify.com/9193
Peer comments on this reference comment:

agree Stephen Reader : (dep. on tone/context, existing elaboration/target readership). LG, Johanna!
6 hrs
agree Helen Shiner : Thanks, Johanna - confirms my hunches.
12 hrs
Something went wrong...
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