E.140 Bridge repair, Venice 2007

• I. 1st state of 4

  

  Etching. A view of the Venice lagoon with steps at left and an irregular retaining wall in the approximate centre. A large wooden structure in the water occupies the horizon at right; on top is the standing figure of a workman holding a horizontal beam. The subject is etched in all its essential details.

  Impression with light, even plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• II. 2nd state of 4

  

  The figure of the man has been burnished out. Much of the plate has been etched with additional horizontal and oblique hatching in order to model the structures volumetrically.

  Impression with light grey plate tone, on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-2’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• III. 3rd state of 4

  Several etched strokes have been burnished away from the top part of the space between the two central posts of the wooden structure at the upper right.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-3’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• IV. 4th and final state

  Hatching has been added to many of the areas in shadow down the centre of the plate. The post at the end of the irregular retaining wall now has an emphatic left contour, and the first strong vertical of the retaining wall has also been strengthened. The upper edge of the facing irregular strip of rubble(?) is also defined with an etched contour. Several strokes of oblique hatching have been added to the water at the lower right. There are four surviving variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-4’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.
  2. Impression with plate tone, on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-5’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-5’, this is an impression of the fourth and final state.
  3. Impression on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-6’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘2-6’, this is an impression of the fourth and final state.
  4. Selectively wiped impression with dark plate tone, and with the sky left comparatively light, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3-6’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘3-6’, this is an impression of the fourth and final state.

• IV.c. 4th and final state

  

  Hatching has been added to many of the areas in shadow down the centre of the plate. The post at the end of the irregular retaining wall now has an emphatic left contour, and the first strong vertical of the retaining wall has also been strengthened. The upper edge of the facing irregular strip of rubble(?) is also defined with an etched contour. Several strokes of oblique hatching have been added to the water at the lower right. There are four surviving variant impressions of this state.

• Edition, 2007

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Velin Arches 250 gsm paper, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), October 2007. The edition included a bon à tirer impression, an artist’s proof, two APW workshop proofs, and a presentation proof. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Bridge Repair Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

  Edition sheet size: 280 x 380 mm

• Edition impression, 2007 (Featured Image)

  

• Comment

  E.140 depicts part of the Fondamente Nove (or New Foundations), which is in the vicinity of the Venice Printmaking Studio. The etching is after a pencil drawing in Amor’s Venice Sketchbook, done on the spot on 12 June 2007, and is oriented in the same direction. In his work through the four states of this print, Amor was intent on achieving a strong sense of space and volume. From this perspective, the etching is different from the drawing, which is conceived largely in terms of outline.

  Amor used the subject of E.140 in two later gouaches, painted in Melbourne, one dated 14 August 2008, the other 15 August 2008.