E.061 AS (Andrew Southall) 1992

• I. 1st state of 4

  Drypoint. Head and shoulders portrait of Andrew Southall, wearing a T-shirt and jacket. The subject is delineated summarily in drypoint and the background is blank.

  Impression with burr, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘AS’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.

• II. 2nd state of 4

  

  Drypoint has been added to the hair, the left side of the face, and the jacket.

  Impression with burr, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘AS’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.

• III. 3rd state of 4

  The drypoint burr has been scraped back and the plate has been wiped cleanly, resulting in a far lighter image than in the first two states. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘AS’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.
  2. Stronger impression, with some burr, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘AS’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. Although inscribed ‘4’, this is an impression of the third state.

• IV. 4th and final state

  Drypoint, including a strong vertical line to the right of the head, has been added to the background. More drypoint modelling has been added to the face, to the hair at right, and to the jacket; the philtrum is now defined with a drypoint curve. A horizontal line has been added to the bottom of the image. There are four variant impressions of this state.

  1. Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘A.S.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. Although inscribed ‘5’, this is an impression of the fourth and final state.
  2. Darker impression, with more burr, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘AS’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. Although inscribed ‘6’, this is an impression of the fourth and final state.
  3. Cleanly wiped impression with burr, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP I’; lower centre: ‘AS’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.
  4. Dark impression with rich burr, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP II’; lower centre: ‘AS’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. (Featured Image)

• IV.d. Artist’s proof of 4th and final state (Featured Image)

  

  Drypoint, including a strong vertical line to the right of the head, has been added to the background. More drypoint modelling has been added to the face, to the hair at right, and to the jacket; the philtrum is now defined with a drypoint curve. A horizontal line has been added to the bottom of the image. There are four variant impressions of this state.

• No edition

• Comment

  Amor made four portrait prints of his friend, the self-taught painter and printmaker Andrew Southall (b. 1947), the first two being woodcuts, executed in 1984 (Andrew Southall painting) and 1986 (Andrew Southall) respectively. This drypoint was the third of the Southall portrait prints, and it was followed, in 1995, by another drypoint, which portrays the subject in a traditional half-length pose (cat. no. E.095). Like the 1995 print, E.061 was done from life and scored with the drypoint needle directly onto the copper plate. It was not commissioned but was made spontaneously, as a portrait of a friend.

  Amor and Southall first met in 1981, through a mutual friend, at Realities, a commercial gallery in Toorak (Melbourne), and subsequently often went on drawing and painting expeditions together. They were soon joined by others, and their practice of working outdoors helped revive an enthusiasm for plein-air painting, among a younger generation of artists.

  In E.061, Amor makes use of the expressive and suggestive qualities of drypoint, exploiting its capacity to provide the appearance of differing facial expressions, depending on the way the plate is wiped (and therefore depending on the amount of ink left on it). The role that the drypoint burr plays in trapping the ink is an important element in this.

  Amor’s intaglio record books indicate that the artist had planned to print an edition of six impressions of this work, but the edition never eventuated.

  The verso of the copper plate used for E.061 was subsequently used for the drypoint Sea structure, 1992 (cat. no. E.067).