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faux pas - nudes.

The faux pas goes by many names - gaffe, breach of etiquette, gaucherie, peccadillo - but whatever you want to call it, hardly anything causes as much immediate embarrassment and deferred hilarity as a socially awkward or improper act or remark.

© Roland Herrmann

Anna mit Büstenhalter

Anna mit Büstenhalter

Aquarell, Tusche auf Papier, 30 x 40cm

Akt unbekannt gelb

Akt unbekannt gelb

Aquarell, Tusche auf Papier, 42x42cm

Anna rot

Anna rot

Aquarell, Tusche auf Papier, 30x40cm

The French phrase "faux pas" has been in use in English since the late seventeenth century. Etymologically the expression referred to a "false dance step" - and taking a false step in the highly choreographed and minutely timed dances of the period would certainly have caused many an eyebrow to rise in derision. Today, however, the phrase can be used in a much wider range of contexts and when we say that someone has made a faux pas, we simply mean that they have made

"a social or cultural blunder."

 

© Roland Herrmann

Faux Pas.jpg

Faux Pas

Dessin digitalisé, Edition en 10 exemplaires, 42 x 62 cm

faux pas.

Trauernde Frauen.jpg

Trauernde Frauen

Fine Liner, Tusche auf Papier 

Eva.jpg

Eva im Hintergrund

Tusche, Aquarell, weiße Farbe auf Papier

75 x 106 cm

According to Jacques Lacan, the faux pas can also be seen within the context of paedopsychological development and the integration of the 'Name-of-the-Father.' Lacan's concept of the 'Name-of-the-Father' denotes the laws and restrictions that control your desire and simultaneously delineate the social dictates and conventions that permit you to enter language and social interaction. Only through acceptance of the 'Name-of-the-Father' are you able to enter into a community of others and actualize your social self.

In this view, the faux pas is closely related to the Freudian slip, in which the superego's acceptance of the dictates imposed by the 'Name-of-the-Father' is spontaneously undermined by unconscious impulses that ultimately might reveal your true but socially

 

"unacceptable desires and motives."

© Roland Herrmann

Gelber Rücken mit Tropfen.jpg

Gelber Rücken mit Tropfen

Aquarell, Bleistift auf Papier

60 x 80 cm

Alte Frau.jpg

Alte Frau

Aquarell, Tusche auf Papier

60 x 80 cm

Schwangere Frau.jpg

Schwangere Frau

Tusche auf Papier

60 x 80 cm

Hängender Akt.jpg

Hängender Akt

Tusche auf Papier

60 x 80 cm

"Hence, the danger of committing a faux pas underscores the importance of learning about culturally acceptable norms of behaviour. A lack of this cultural awareness may cause offense, destroy relationships or even ruin careers."

© Roland Herrmann

Liegender Akt.jpg

Liegender Akt

Aquarell, Tusche auf Papier, 43 x 64cm

"If we all rigidly followed the well-trodden path, we might indeed never fall off the cliff, but neither would we discover the hidden beauty in the terra incognita."

© Roland Herrmann

Alex.jpg

Alex

Tusche auf Papier, 43 x 53 cm

Mann.jpg

Mann

Tusche auf Millimeterpapier, 52 x 52 cm

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