This student-organized exhibition explores historic representations of the four temperaments—melancholic, choleric, sanguine, and phlegmatic—as well as their legacies in prints of the contemporary era.
The logic of temperaments gained popularity in the Western Medieval period, with steady favor continuing through the Renaissance period and into the 19th century. While humoral science is now obsolete, the explanatory power of the temperaments remains in use. Temperamental!: Prints in the Collection of Bryn Mawr College takes an ahistorical approach to interpretations of the temperaments. It explores a variety of print media from the European Early Modern period (15th-18th century) ... view more »
The logic of temperaments gained popularity in the Western Medieval period, with steady favor continuing through the Renaissance period and into the 19th century. While humoral science is now obsolete, the explanatory power of the temperaments remains in use. Temperamental!: Prints in the Collection of Bryn Mawr College takes an ahistorical approach to interpretations of the temperaments. It explores a variety of print media from the European Early Modern period (15th-18th century) to the Western Modern period (19th century-present day) through the investigative lens of the four temperaments. Some of the included prints deliberately employ the iconography associated with the temperaments, while others bear the traces of temperament-derived logic that persist today.
This exhibition was organized by Tessa Haas (M.A. student), Anya Prussin ’19, Talia Shiroma ’19, and Maeve White (M.A. student), under the direction of Christiane Hertel and Carrie Robbins in last fall’s History of Art exhibition seminar, Early/Modern Temperaments.
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