In an indeterminate place

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The French title of this pic­ture, En Lieu oblique, is dif­fi­cult to trans­late. In an Inde­ter­mi­nate Place sug­gests that the land­scape evokes some unde­fined locale but describes no par­tic­u­lar site. Another trans­la­tion, On Slant­ing Ground, con­veys the sense of a tilted fore­ground that merges with dis­tant back­ground. But nei­ther trans­la­tion offers a lit­eral expla­na­tion of the imagery. Tan­guy was reluc­tant to attach spe­cific labels or inter­pre­ta­tions of his works, lest he risk enclos­ing him­self in a def­i­n­i­tion that could soon become a “prison” for him.

– Eliz­a­beth C. Childs

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