E.054 57th St, NY 1991

• I. 1st state of 8

  Etching. A view from below of the upper part of a vista of skyscrapers situated on the right side of a street. The subject is lightly etched.

  Impression on wove BFK Rives paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘57th ST NY’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• II. 2nd state of 8

  

  Etched definition has been added to details of the buildings, especially in the shadowed areas.

  Impression on wove BFK Rives paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘57th ST NY’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• III. 3rd state of 8

  The triangular segment at the top of the building to the left of the spired building has been burnished. Burnishing is also evident in the upper left area of the sky and in the triangular section of shadow at the lower right.

  Impression on wove BFK Rives paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘57th St NY’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• IV. 4th state of 8

  Loose etching has been added to the sky at the upper left. Shadowed areas have been strengthened with etching, and rows of oblique hatching have been added to the banded face of the building to the left of the spire.

  Impression on buff wove BFK Rives paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘57th St NY’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• V. 5th state of 8

  

  Light drypoint hatching has been added to the sky at the upper left. The angular shadow cast by the building with the spire has been burnished away.

  Impression on buff wove BFK Rives paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘57th ST NY’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• VI. 6th state of 8

  The sky at the upper right has been burnished.

  Impression on wove BFK Rives paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘57th St NY’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• VII. 7th state of 8

  Drypoint has been added throughout the plate. The streetscape now includes street lights and a prominent rectangular street sign. The vista has been extended into the distance, with the addition of buildings and street lights in the lower left corner.

  Impression with saturated burr, on cream wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘7 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘57th St NY’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• VIII. 8th and final state

  Several street lights have been added in the far distance, and vertical drypoint hatching has been added to the lower part of the sky. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression with rich burr, on cream wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘8 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘57th ST NY’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’. (Featured Image)
  2. Impression with burr, on cream wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP’; lower centre: ‘56th [sic] St NY’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• VIII.a. 8th and final state (Featured Image)

  

  Several street lights have been added in the far distance, and vertical drypoint hatching has been added to the lower part of the sky. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• No edition

• Comment

  In October 1991, on his way home to Melbourne from his Visual Arts/Craft Board (Australia Council) residency in Barcelona, Amor stopped briefly in New York. This is the second of two etchings he made following his visit to Manhattan; the first was 6th Ave, NY, 1991 (cat. no. E.053). Both prints were made after sketchbook drawings, both have the same tall, pillar format, and both depict street vistas.

  In 1996, Amor would spend several months in New York, based at the Australia Council’s Greene St Studio, and he subsequently produced a substantial body of work as a response to New York City, including several intaglio prints (cat. nos E.108, E.109, E.126 and E.159).