E.008 Celestial Lane 1989

• I. 1st state of 2

  

  Etching. A view of a short, narrow lane lined with buildings, with a row of three pruned, bare plane trees at right and a statue of a Chinese lion’s head in the lower right corner. The lane is blocked off at the end, and in the left distance is a tall building, capped on the corner by a small dome. To the right of this building are two Doric columns. At the upper right is a crescent moon. The sky is light except for patches of shadow around and below the moon, and above the columns. The subject is delineated in outline, supplemented by loose, oblique hatching.

  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: ‘Celestial Lane’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’89’.

• II. 2nd and final state (Featured Image)

  

  Much loose hatching has been added throughout the plate, giving tone to the whole and modelling to details such as the trees and the sculpture. The sky is now distinctly an evening sky.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘A/P’; lower centre: ‘Celestial Lane’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’89’.

• Edition, 1989

  Nominal edition of ten, but only four impressions were printed and numbered. The edition is variable, with the plate wiped slightly differently for each impression. The impressions are on wove paper and were printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. The edition included four artist’s proofs. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 4]/10’; lower centre: ‘Celestial Lane’; lower right: signed and dated: ‘Rick Amor ’89’.

  Edition sheet size: 280 x 380 mm

• Comment

  Celestial Avenue, originally named Celestial Alley and called Celestial Lane here, is in Melbourne’s Chinatown district, an area frequented by students from the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Amor’s time, for its cheap and good Chinese food. The facade of the domed building depicted in the distance identifies it as that of the old Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, but shown in reverse direction. Although the view presented in E.008 is recognizable to this day, Amor has taken liberties in his depiction of the place. The footpath with three pruned plane trees, the lion’s head, and the resulting perspectival adjustments are his elaborations.

  A woodcut of the same title was made in 1989­­–90, and a drypoint, also bearing the same title, in 1991 (cat. no. E.055).