E.102 Anteroom 1996; reworked 1999 and 2002

• I. 1st state of 6, 1996

  Etching. In a large anteroom with a high, coffered ceiling a man and a woman sit in armchairs, opposite one another. The woman, who is seated at the right, looks towards the back of the room, where a besuited man, his back to the viewer, stands leaning against a doorway, his right arm raised to support him. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled] -1’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.
  2. Impression with slight film of plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled] -2’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.
  3. Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled] -3’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.

• I.a. 1st state of 6, 1996

  

  Etching. In a large anteroom with a high, coffered ceiling a man and a woman sit in armchairs, opposite one another. The woman, who is seated at the right, looks towards the back of the room, where a besuited man, his back to the viewer, stands leaning against a doorway, his right arm raised to support him. There are three variant impressions of this state.

• II. 2nd state of 6, 1996

  

  Many areas of the plate have been darkened with the addition of etched hatching and cross-hatching; these areas include the back wall, the wall at left, the back of the woman’s armchair, the side of the man’s armchair, and the figure of the standing man. Conversely, areas of light have been extended; these include the light area on the upper part of the wall at left, the circular light in the ceiling, the long inverted triangle of light at the right, and the pools of light on the floor. The architectural details around the standing man have been clarified with more etching. The features of the seated man’s face have been more clearly defined and his trousers have been modelled with shading.

  Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.

• III. 3rd state of 6, 1996

  The plate has been comprehensively re-etched, with the dark areas further darkened; the image now shows large areas of dense black tone. Hatching has been added to the seated man’s face, obscuring its detail. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Unevenly printed impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled] -1’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.
  2. Impression that is more evenly printed than III.a, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled] -2’; lower centre ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’96’.

• III.b. 3rd state of 6, 1996

  

  The plate has been comprehensively re-etched, with the dark areas further darkened; the image now shows large areas of dense black tone. Hatching has been added to the seated man’s face, obscuring its detail. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• IV. 4th state of 6, 1996

  Much of the plate has been burnished, to create a more tonally differentiated scene. The burnished areas include the back and left walls and the floor.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘Bon à tirer’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’. This the fourth state is also a bon à tirer impression and forms part of the first edition.

• IV. 4th state of 6, 1996 (bon à tirer impression) (Featured Image)

  

  Much of the plate has been burnished, to create a more tonally differentiated scene. The burnished areas include the back and left walls and the floor.

• First edition, 1996

  Nominal edition of ten, but only five impressions were printed and numbered. These are variable, are on wove paper, and were printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. The edition included a bon à tirer impression (described under ‘IV. 4th state of 6’, above) and two artist’s proofs. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 5]/10’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’96’.

• V. 5th state of 6, 1999

  The light areas on the floor have been burnished, now appearing lighter. In his intaglio record books, Amor notes that he reworked the plate on 15 October 1999, but he does not assign the etching a new number, or mention that at this stage the print was editioned. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove Magnani Acqueforti 300 gsm paper, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘Bon à tirer’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 99’. APW chop mark embossed in lower right corner. This impression of the fifth state is also a bon à tirer impression and forms part of the second edition.
  2. Impression on wove Magnani Acqueforti 300 gsm paper, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 99’. APW chop mark embossed in lower right corner. This impression of the fifth state is an artist’s proof that forms part of the second edition.

• Second edition, 1999

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Magnani Acqueforti 300 gsm paper, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), October 1999. The edition included a bon à tirer impression and an artist’s proof (both described under ‘V. 5th state of 6, 1999’, above), and two APW workshop proofs. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 99’. APW chop mark embossed in lower right corner.

  Edition sheet size: 200 x 250 mm

  In the end, Amor was dissatisfied with this edition because he thought that the light shining on the floor needed more burnishing. Therefore he did not release the edition.

• VI. 6th and final state, 2002

  

  The light area on the floor has again been burnished, and now appears fractionally lighter. According to Amor’s intaglio record books, this state dates from May 2002.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated: ‘R. Amor ’02’.

   

• Third edition, 2002

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Velin Arches 250 gsm paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), May 2002. The edition included a bon à tirer impression, an artist’s proof and two APW workshop proofs. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Anteroom’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 02’. APW chop mark embossed in lower right corner.

  Edition sheet size: 380 x 280 mm

  Amor considers this to be the principal edition of this etching.

• Comment

  The subject of E.102 is based on that of an earlier etching of the same title, Ante-room, 1993 (cat. no. E.076), but the orientation of the composition has been reversed. The original model for both etchings is the painting Study for ‘The ante-room’, 1993 (Niagara Galleries 1994). The etchings and the painting, and other related works, form a group of closely related compositions, whose interiors combine architectural elements drawn from a number of places. The setting here, as in E.076, was inspired by the upstairs foyer of the Astor Theatre, an Art Deco cinema (built 1935–36) in the inner Melbourne suburb of St Kilda.

  Apart from the larger dimensions of the plate, the major change in the present etching by comparison with E.076 was the repositioning of the seated figures. By bringing them closer to the foreground, and thus increasing the distance between them and the standing man at the back, Amor enlarged the internal scale of the composition, which became more cavernous. The effect was a subtle shift in the print’s enigmatic narrative.

  The literary inspiration for Amor’s subject was T. S. Eliot’s poem ‘Sweeney among the Nightingales’ (1918). Amor appreciates what he has referred to as Eliot’s ‘dry and flat speaking voice’, which he had heard on a set of cassette tapes he owned of the poet reading. Eliot’s vocal character, Amor thought, corresponded to the visual character of his own images. In E.102 and E.076, the artist has responded to the tensely allusive narrative of the Sweeney poem, with its references to silent men and muffled conversations. Amor has also linked the uneasy narrative of his anteroom subject to the moody, surreal cinematic narratives of David Lynch, whose films he admires.

  The adjustments made to E.102 through the progression of its states involved some changes to compositional details, but were chiefly tonal. The intensification of the dark areas in the second state served also to highlight the areas of light, thus increasing the sense of drama in the image. With the re-etching of the plate in the third state, the subject was plunged into a deeper darkness, which shrouds the seated man at left, and thus tilts the dramatic focus towards the standing man and the seated woman. The later states are burnished back to the grey tones of half light, which evoke an atmosphere of disquiet.