Join Benalla Art Gallery and the artist Janet Leith for the official celebration of her new exhibition Melancholia.

The exhibition is inspired by Laurinda S. Dixon’s Privileged Piety: Melancholia and the Herbal Tradition published in the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art.

Leith examines the pre-nineteenth century system of belief relating to humoral theory, specifically the ‘Four Humors’ of phlegm, black bile, yellow bile and blood, which instigated the effects of both heightened inspiration (heat) and depressed spirits (cold) on the human body and mind.

Leith’s work is a symbolic representation of the artist’s personal state of mind, a sense of disquiet and a variety of emotions through the use of the female nude. Leith’s intent is to create a thoughtful and emotional environment allowing visitors to dwell, consider, and perhaps personally identify with the various concepts of ‘melancholia’ that are presented.

Image:
Janet LEITH
Black Bile 2023
charcoal, gesso, ink and coloured pencil on paper
70 x 55 cm