E.070 Barry Hill 1993

• I. 1st state of 7

  

  Drypoint. A frontal portrait of Barry Hill, showing the face, neck and part of the collar of his shirt; the top of the head is cropped. The portrait has been scored in drypoint, and the background is blank.

  Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Barry Hill’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’.

• II. 2nd state of 7

  

  The face and neck have received more modelling in drypoint; the background is now filled with loose parallel hatching, in the area below the eyes, and with dark cross-hatching, in the area above the eyes. A dark patch of roulette work has been added in the left background, in line with the eyebrows.

  Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Barry Hill’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’.

• III. 3rd state of 7

  Loose vertical hatching has been added to the eyelids and to the lower background. The eyebrows have been darkened with roulette work. Drypoint shading has been added between the eyes, on the lines delineating the nose and the cheeks, and to the left portion of the area between the nose and the lips. Several strokes of stubble have been added to the chin.

  Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Barry Hill’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’.

• IV. 4th state of 7

  Patches of shading, done with the roulette, have been added in two places: in the upper left background, and at the lower left, beside the neck. The cross-hatching in the lower background has been burnished and has been replaced at the left with thinner, lighter hatching.

  Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Barry Hill’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’.

• V. 5th state of 7

  Strong drypoint has been added to many areas of the plate. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Barry Hill’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’.
  2. Impression with rich burr, and plate tone in the background, on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Barry Hill’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’. Although inscribed ‘6’, this is an impression of the fifth state.

• V.a. 5th state of 7

  

  Strong drypoint has been added to many areas of the plate. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• VI. 6th state of 7

  The drypoint accent at the join of the lips at left has been burnished back.

  Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘7 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Barry Hill’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’. Although inscribed ‘7’, this is the sixth state.

• VII. 7th and final state

  A small area of oblique hatching has been added immediately above the left corner of the upper lip. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘Bon à tirer’; lower centre: ‘Barry Hill’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’. Although inscribed ‘Bon à tirer’, this is an impression of the seventh and final state. (Featured Image)
  2. Selectively wiped impression with rich burr, on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP I’; lower centre: ‘Barry Hill’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’.
  3. Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP II’; lower centre: ‘Barry Hill’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’.

• VII.a. 7th and final state (Featured Image)

  

  A small area of oblique hatching has been added immediately above the left corner of the upper lip. There are three variant impressions of this state.

• No edition

• Comment

  This is the second of five portrait prints of Australian writers that in 1992 Amor was commissioned to make for the literary journal Overland. Barry Hill (b. 1943) is a poet, historian, journalist and academic. In 1993, the year in which this drypoint portrait was made, Hill was fifty years old and had just published Ghosting William Buckley, for which he would win the 1994 Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry. Prior to undertaking the Overland commission, Amor did not know Hill personally, although he was familiar with his work and had illustrated an article on William Buckley that Hill had written for Overland.

  E.070 is based on a drawing done from life, but now lost.

  Amor’s other subjects for the 1992 Overland commission were Helen Garner (cat. no. E.068), David Malouf (E.072), Chris Wallace-Crabbe (E.080) and Barrett (Barrie) Reid (E.081).