Melancholy
Confluence
Bittersweet. Beauty inseparable from sadness, in which neither can be removed without destroying the other. Melancholy occurs only as a fusion; sadness with beauty laid on top is a different state and comes apart under pressure.
The word
Greek melaina chole, black bile, the humor ancient medicine blamed for the condition. A question attributed to Aristotle asked why exceptional men are melancholic, and the association with depth never left. Robert Burton needed more than a thousand pages for The Anatomy of Melancholy in 1621 and kept enlarging it until he died.
The feeling
Sadness with the lights left on. The world looks more beautiful in it, not less: dusk, rain and endings acquire a finish they lack in ordinary light. It is slow, reflective, and strangely productive; thought deepens where sadness would stall it. You do not want out of it with any urgency, which is the surest sign you are in it.
Against its neighbours
Sadness wants to end; melancholy would rather not, since ending it means losing the beauty along with the ache. Mono no Aware belongs to the observed thing and lifts when you look away; melancholy belongs to the observer and follows you out of the room.
In the work
A palette that will not resolve to warm or cool. The piece reads as both at once and does not settle.
Melancholy is held in the archive. These prints carry its family.
Open editions from $75. Free US shipping.
1 work composed with Melancholy
How big, actually.
Drawn to scale against a person of average height. Every size is a 4:5 rectangle, the same proportion as the work itself, so nothing is cropped to fit.
Sizes are the printed image. Framed works add the moulding around that. Standard US shipping is free at every size.
Paper, or canvas.
Same image, same inks. What changes is the surface it is printed on. Tap either one.
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PRINT
Hahnemühle Photo Rag
The paper itself. A heavy 100% cotton matte sheet with a smooth surface, printed edge to edge with no border. Ships flat, or rolled in a tube at large sizes.
- Every size, up to 40 × 50
- You pick the frame
- Just paper and ink
- Needs framing to hang
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CANVAS
Satin poly-cotton, gallery wrap
Printed on canvas, then stretched by hand over solid wood. The image continues around the sides, so there is no border and no glass.
- Hang it the day it lands
- No glass, no glazing
- Real depth off the wall
- Up to 36 × 45
Series 001 numbers are shared across every size and material, and the certificate records exactly which object you own. Open editions carry no number and no certificate.
Framed, or not.
One frame, satin black, solid wood. We pick the moulding that suits the size and the material, so it arrives ready to hang. Tap either one.
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NONE
The work, as it is
A paper print ships flat or rolled and you frame it your way. A canvas needs nothing: it is stretched, wired and ready for the wall the day it lands.
- The lightest to ship
- Your framer, your call
- Canvas hangs as it is
- Every size
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BLACK
Solid wood, chosen for the size
Sealed, hung with hardware fitted, nothing left to arrange. Paper sits behind acrylic; canvas floats inside the moulding with no glass at all.
- STANDARD BLACK ⅞ in face · ¾ in deep · behind acrylic Paper, 8 × 12 and 12 × 18
- ALTO BLACK THIN 1⅜ in face · ⁹⁄₁₆ in deep · behind acrylic Paper, 16 × 24 and up
- BLACK 2 FLOAT ⅜ in face · 2 in deep · ¼ in reveal · no glass Canvas, every framed size
Framed work ships boxed with the hardware fitted. The largest sizes are sold unframed, because a frame that size can only travel by freight.
The list hears first.
Composed with
The rest of the Trans-Warm family
Where Melancholy sits Mx · TRANS-WARM FAMILY
OPEN THE TABLETRANS-WARM FAMILY75 NAMED · 5 UNDISCOVEREDTAP ANY CELL TO OPEN ITS PAGE

