E.163 Distant garden 2010–11

• I. 1st state of 5, 2010

  

  Drypoint. An enclosed formal garden with a zigzag path leading to tall hedges in the distance. In the left half of the composition are cypress trees and a single tree stump. In the right foreground are the bare trunks and crooked branches of two tall trees, one in front of a stone wall that traverses the image, the other behind it; there is another curved tree stump in that area. The sky is filled with clouds. A framing line has been ruled 5 mm from the plate mark at the top and at both sides of the plate.

  Impression on cream wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower centre: ‘Distant Garden’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’.

• II. 2nd state of 5, 2010 or 2011

  

  The clouds at left have been burnished, and extensive burnishing has been applied to the lawns and paths; this serves to lighten the overall tonality of the image. Curved lines of shading have been added to the tree beyond the wall, and oblique shading has been introduced to the top of the left stump.

  Impression on cream wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-2’; lower centre: ‘Distant Garden’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’.

• III. 3rd state of 5, 2010 or 2011

  The lawn in the left foreground has been further burnished, but additional lines of shading have been introduced in the middle distance between the bare trees. The face of the left tree stump has been burnished and several horizontal strokes have been added at the top.

  Impression with plate tone, on cream wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-3’; lower centre: ‘Distant Garden’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’.

• IV. 4th state of 5, 2010 or 2011

  Much new drypoint has been added to the grassy areas, to the path in the foreground and at right, to the previously untouched area between the tall cypresses, and to the tree stump at left. The clouds have again been darkened with drypoint. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Selectively wiped impression with plate tone, on cream wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-4’; lower centre: ‘Distant Garden’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’.
  2. Impression with dark plate tone, on cream wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-5’; lower centre: ‘Distant Garden’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’. Although inscribed ‘1-5’, this is an impression of the fourth state.
  3. Selectively wiped impression with bright highlights, on cream wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-5’; lower centre: ‘Distant Garden’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’. Although inscribed ‘2-5’, this is an impression of the fourth state.

• IV.a. 4th state of 5, 2010 or 2011

  

  Much new drypoint has been added to the grassy areas, to the path in the foreground and at right, to the previously untouched area between the tall cypresses, and to the tree stump at left. The clouds have again been darkened with drypoint. There are three variant impressions of this state.

• V. 5th and final state, 2010 or 2011

  

  Oblique drypoint strokes now shade the expanse of lawn in the middle distance. Further hatching has been added in the lower left corner.

  Cleanly wiped impression on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-6’; lower centre: ‘Distant Garden’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’. Although inscribed ‘1-6’, this is the fifth and final state.

• Edition, 2011

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Somerset paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at Kate Herd’s studio, Alphington. The edition was uniformly printed with plate tone and rich burr. It included a bon à tirer impression, an artist’s proof, a printer’s proof and an hors commerce impression. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Distant Garden’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor ’11’.

• Edition impression, 2011 (Featured Image)

  

• Comment

  E.163 is based loosely on a photograph taken by Amor of one of the gardens at Hampton Court Palace. According to the artist’s intaglio record books, this drypoint is the last intaglio print begun in 2010, although no impressions inscribed with that date have been found. The print is one of a cluster of closely related works, including a watercolour that was made after it (Liverpool Street Gallery 2011).

  The essential details of the composition of E.163 were recorded in the first state and did not alter substantially as Amor progressed to the fifth and final state. All work done on the plate in states II through V was tonal. The clouds were modelled with a burnisher in the second state so as to relieve their initial uniformity, and parts of the path were darkened with drypoint in the fourth state. With these and other adjustments, the garden took on a darker and more enclosed appearance.

  The artist has said that gardens and hedges figure large in his imagination, a reflection of deeply rooted childhood memories of his aunt’s house in Frankston, with its tall cypress hedge, which seemed to the young Rick Amor to cast a mysterious atmosphere over the place. The evocative gardens at Mulberry Hill (Langwarrin South, Victoria), the home of Sir Daryl and Lady Joan Lindsay, where Amor lived from 1973 to 1985, feature in many of the emotion-filled works that he made during his final years there. Since then, the subject of gardens is one that Amor has continued to return to from time to time.