E.031 Abbotsford 1990

• I. 1st state of 6

  Etching. Landscape with a river. The river, which curves towards the left corner of the image, has trees on its banks, in the middle and far distance. A path running beside the water to the right is bordered by a steep sloping wall, from which two angled pipes jut out. In the sky is an irregular mass of clouds. The composition is complete, but is etched in a light, sketchy manner. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Cleanly wiped impression on wove Fabriano paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Abbotsford’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 90’.
  2. Impression with plate tone, on wove Fabriano paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Abbotsford’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’. Although inscribed ‘2’, this is an impression of the first state.

• I.a. 1st state of 6

  

  Etching. Landscape with a river. The river, which curves towards the left corner of the image, has trees on its banks, in the middle and far distance. A path running beside the water to the right is bordered by a steep sloping wall, from which two angled pipes jut out. In the sky is an irregular mass of clouds. The composition is complete, but is etched in a light, sketchy manner. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• II. 2nd state of 6

  The entire plate has been re-bitten and all the etched lines are now thicker and darker. Oblique hatching has been added to the clouds, and loose hatching has been added to the bushes in the far left distance, to the trees on the right bank, to the right edge of the river, to the sloping wall, and to the lower right corner of the image.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Abbotsford’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’. Although inscribed ‘3’, this is the second state.

• III. 3rd state of 6

  Drypoint has been added to the shadows in many places. The reflections in the water have been toned down with a burnisher, as have the light areas of the foliage of the trees at right.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Abbotsford’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’. Although inscribed ‘4’, this is the third state.

• IV. 4th state of 6

  Drypoint lines have been added to the triangular area defined by the large pipe at right, to the wall above the pipe, and to the area of cloud at the upper right. A patch of the riverbank below the trees at right has been burnished.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Abbotsford’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’. Although inscribed ‘5’, this is the fourth state.

• V. 5th state of 6

  Drypoint accents have been added to the inside contour of the large pipe. The strip of light to the left of the shadow cast on the wall by the trees at right has been burnished.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Abbotsford’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’. Although inscribed ‘6’, this is the fifth state.

• VI. 6th and final state (Featured Image)

  

  Horizontal lines have been added to the clouds at the upper left.

  Impression on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘A/P’; lower centre: ‘Abbotsford’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’.

   

• No edition

• Comment

  Abbotsford is an inner suburb of Melbourne, some two kilometres to the east of the CBD, with a boundary at the Yarra River, along which are extensive walking trails. The view depicted in this etching is from one of these tracks, downstream from Dights Falls.

  E.031 is based on a study in oil pastels, a work that is no longer extant (having been destroyed by the artist). A related plein-air painting of the area seen in the etching is similarly no longer extant.

  When speaking of this etching, Amor recalled having been given, around 1961, Otto Benesch’s book Rembrandt as a Draughtsman (1960), and having been prompted by it to go out looking for landscapes similar to those depicted by the Dutch master. The present etching reflects this interest in Rembrandt’s landscapes.