E.142 Corte Berlendis 2007

• I. 1st state of 3

  

  Burnished aquatint. A view through Corte Berlendis, a covered alleyway, onto a wall beyond.

  Impression 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 3

  

  The existing light areas have been evened out with more burnishing, but the tonal contrasts have not markedly changed. The left column now has an irregular left contour, suggesting decrepitude.

  Impression on wove paper, 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 and final state

  The light area on the ground through the gateway has undergone further burnishing. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. 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’. (Featured Image)
  2. Impression on cream wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-3’; lower centre: ‘Corte Berlendis’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• III.a. 3rd and final state (Featured Image)

  

  The light area on the ground through the gateway has undergone further burnishing. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• Edition, 2007

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, uniformly printed with a light film of plate tone, on wove Velin Arches paper, by Rosalind Atkins at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), between July and December 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: ‘Corte Berlendis’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Chop mark embossed in lower right corner: ‘APW [within a horizontal rectangle]’.

  Edition sheet size: 380 x 280 mm

• Artist’s proof (from edition, 2007; impression of 3rd and final state)

  

• Comment

  This is the first of two prints depicting Corte Berlendis, a small alleyway or courtyard in the Cannaregio district of Venice. The other is Corte Berlendis II (cat. no. E.148), in which the subject is depicted from the opposite direction. Amor was drawn to the gateway of the alleyway by its sense of ancient, decrepit mystery and its minimal, post-and-lintel geometry. He made a pencil drawing of the gateway in his sketchbook, a sketch whose pure linearity emphasizes the simplicity of the structure. The burnished aquatint he used in creating the print, while being a technique that intrinsically lends itself to tonal work, has retained this quality of geometric minimalism.

  E.142 went through very few states – a confirmation of the clear sense of purpose that Amor had when he started creating the image from the prepared aquatint. When the edition was being printed, however, he did experiment with plate tone, sometimes using so much of it as to veil the gateway in darkness; this effect can be seen in the artist’s proof illustrated here.

  Amor also made a painting of Corte Berlendis, based on this print and dated to the same year.