E.072 DM (David Malouf) 1993

• I. 1st state of 4

  Etching. A frontal portrait showing the head of David Malouf, who is wearing spectacles. The subject is lightly etched.

  Very cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘DM’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’.

• II. 2nd state of 4

• III. 3rd state of 4

  Touches of drypoint have been added to the chin, the eyes, and the line of the mouth.

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

• IV. 4th and final state

  The right eyelid has been strengthened with drypoint. There are two surviving variant impressions of this state. (Impression AP I and a bon à tirer impression were also printed, according to Amor’s intaglio record books, but these have not been sighted, and their whereabouts are unknown.)

  1. Impression inscribed ‘AP I’ not sighted.
  2. Impression on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP II’; lower centre: ‘DM’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’. (Featured Image)
  3. Impression on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP III’; lower centre: ‘DM’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’.
  4. Impression inscribed ‘Bon à tirer’ not sighted.

• IV.b. Artist’s proof of 4th and final state (Featured Image)

  

  The right eyelid has been strengthened with drypoint. There are two surviving variant impressions of this state.

• No edition

• Comment

  This is the third of five portrait prints of Australian writers that in 1992 Amor was commissioned to make for the literary journal Overland. David Malouf (b. 1934) is one of Australia’s foremost writers of fiction and nonfiction, and of poetry. He has been awarded many major Australian and international honours, including the International Dublin Literary Award (1996) and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature (2000). In 1993, the year in which Amor etched his portrait, Malouf was fifty-nine years old and his most recent novel was Remembering Babylon, a work that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

  This portrait of Malouf is the first of two executed by Amor; it is based on a drawing made from television, although Amor no longer recalls the name of the program in which Malouf appeared, or when it went to air. The drawing has not survived; however, judging by the linear nature of the etching, it must have been a straightforward line drawing.

  Although E.072 was taken through four states, the changes that Amor made in each state were minor ones, and only the final state is therefore illustrated here.

  Amor’s other portrait of David Malouf is a painting, done from life in 2012. It was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, following Malouf’s selection of Amor as the artist he wished to paint him.

  Amor’s other subjects for the 1992 Overland commission were Helen Garner (cat. no. E.068), Barry Hill (E.070), Chris Wallace-Crabbe (E.080) and Barrett (Barrie) Reid (E.081).