E.034 Cleaning windows c.1990

• I. 1st state of 5

  

  Etching. A rear view of a naked woman, her hair pinned up, who stands on a chair, washing louvred windows. To the right on the bench in front of her is a bowl with fruit and on the left is a rectangular appliance or a piece of kitchen furniture. In the left foreground is the corner of another bench, on top of which is a covered bowl. The subject is summarily and lightly etched.

  Impression on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’. Not signed or dated.

   

• II. 2nd state of 5

  The dark areas of the composition have been strengthened with etched hatching. Horizontal parallel lines have been added to the seat of the chair on which the woman stands. The back of her head has been burnished.

  Cleanly wiped impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’. Not signed or dated.

• III. 3rd state of 5

  A round knob has been added to the tall rectangular object at left, indicating that it is a microwave oven. This impression is extensively touched with a fine-nibbed pen and black ink. The pen and ink additions occur in several areas, as follows. Oblique lines have been drawn across the woman’s back. A loose strand of hair has been added to her head at left, and another on the crown. The contour of the body has been strengthened with an outline, as has the vessel on the bench to the left of the figure. Oblique lines have been added along the bottom edge in the lower left corner, and vertical shading has been added in the area to the right of the louvres. The spaces between the louvres, from the woman’s knee to the waist, have been covered with vertical strokes.

  Impression on wove Arches paper, printed, and extensively touched with pen and ink, by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’. Not signed or dated.

• III. 3rd state of 5, extensively touched with pen and ink

  

  A round knob has been added to the tall rectangular object at left, indicating that it is a microwave oven. This impression is extensively touched with a fine-nibbed pen and black ink. The pen and ink additions occur in several areas, as follows. Oblique lines have been drawn across the woman’s back. A loose strand of hair has been added to her head at left, and another on the crown. The contour of the body has been strengthened with an outline, as has the vessel on the bench to the left of the figure. Oblique lines have been added along the bottom edge in the lower left corner, and vertical shading has been added in the area to the right of the louvres. The spaces between the louvres, from the woman’s knee to the waist, have been covered with vertical strokes.

• IV. 4th state of 5

  Vertical parallel hatching has been added to the lowest interval of the louvres. A strand of falling hair has been added at the left of the head, and another, curved strand has been added to the crown. The contour of the body has been strengthened with etching, as has the modelling of the body, including the spine. The contour of the left hip has been narrowed. A series of vertical lines has been added to the bottom of the window above the fruit bowl at right; however, the loose horizontal hatching in the upper half of the window has been burnished. There are now two round knobs on the microwave oven at left.

  Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’. Not signed or dated.

• V. 5th and final state

  Areas of modelling on the woman’s figure have been burnished to lessen the tonal contrasts, and to emphasize the body’s curves, especially in the area below the waist. There are four 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]’. Not signed or dated. (Featured Image)
  2. Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’. Not signed or dated. Although inscribed ‘6’, this is an impression of the fifth and final state.
  3. Selectively wiped impression with slight plate tone, on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘7 [circled]’. Not signed or dated. Although inscribed ‘7’, this is an impression of the fifth and final state.
  4. Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘8 [circled]’. Not signed or dated. Although inscribed ‘8’, this is an impression of the fifth and final state.

• V.a. 5th and final state (Featured Image)

  

  Areas of modelling on the woman’s figure have been burnished to lessen the tonal contrasts, and to emphasize the body’s curves, especially in the area below the waist. There are four variant impressions of this state.

• No edition

• Comment

  The woman depicted here is Meg Williams, Amor’s partner, whom the artist sketched one hot summer’s day as Williams was cleaning the windows in the kitchen of the house at Dunmoochin in which she and Amor had been living since 1985; Dunmoochin is an artists’ community in the outer Melbourne district of Cottles Bridge.

  There is a pencil drawing of this subject, dated 19 December 1989, in one of Amor’s sketchbooks. According to the artist, the etching was probably made in the following year, although no impressions are dated. A linocut, oriented in the same direction as the etching and with the same title, was made in 1991.

  The copper plate on which E.034 was made has been lost.