English translation of "royaume de la technique" - "a world of packing techniques and bare wooden crates"

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53 months ago

Barbara R Cochran (a guest user) asked this question:

Language pair:	French > English
Subject:	General
Level of diffculty:	Easy / medium
Word or term in question:	royaume de la technique
Context:	Les grandes galeries d’exposition s’étaient transformées en royaume de la technique et du bois blanc. Les chefs-d’œuvre qui y restaient encore s’en dissociaient, comme étrangers à leur ancien décor, témoignant par leur seule présence des bouleversements apportés par la guerre. Sanctuaire de l’art, le Louvre était devenu en quelques jours un vaste chantier d’emballage. Packing up of valuable artworks, so that they could be transported to chateaus for safekeeping during World War II.

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Complete list of answers and comments

53 months ago

English -French - English medical, scientific ++ wrote:

realm of technique

My comment:

The large exhibition galleries had turned into a realm of technique and white wood. The masterpieces that still remained there dissociated themselves from it, as strangers to their old decor, testifying by their very presence to the upheavals brought about by the war.
A sanctuary of art, the Louvre had become in a few days a vast packaging site.

Packing up of valuable artworks, so that they could be transported to chateaux for safekeeping during World War II.

53 months ago

CMD wrote:

realm dominated by technology and wooden transport/shipping crates

My comment:

ad bois blanc :
cf https://www.alamy.com/mediacomp/imagedetails.aspx?ref=BRF4KM&_ga=2.90256989.659427710.1626973560-182087881.1626973560
[ergo, I absolutely agree with martynback]

Comments by other colleagues on this answer:

53 months ago

CMD wrote:

ad royaume : au sens figuré = lieu ou espace dans lequel qch est prééminent, prédominé // figuratively speaking = place or space or area in which something is preeminent, (pre)dominant or which is particularly characterized by ... so, cf realm = (1. kingdom) 2. sphere, domain

53 months ago

martynback wrote:

a world of packing techniques and bare wooden crates

My comment:

the "technique" refers to the purely technical (ie not artistic) skills "on show" in the galleries, which had become mere packing stations. NB "bois blanc" doesn't mean "white" wood. It refers to the unpainted raw wood used to make the crates in which the art was placed.

Comments by other colleagues on this answer:

53 months ago

CMD wrote:

I think, rather than "a world of", the writer actually means "a whole host of . . ."

53 months ago

martynback wrote:

The galleries had once been a world of art, and now they were a world of packing crates: its a spatial image, not a quantitative one. That's why the French says "royaume".

53 months ago

martynback wrote:

I think that if the meaning were "a host of", the text would have been "en un royaume / en une profusion de technique et de bois blanc". Sorry, Barbara, but I think Martinback's translation is perfect.

53 months ago

martynback wrote:

I decided to go with "a whole host of packing techniques and wood crates that were on display . . ." to retain the idea of an exhibit hall.

53 months ago

martynback wrote:

I actually did find another translator elsewhere who also agrees, at least with "a world (of). Thanks.

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