E.175 Erith and Deal Is., Bass Strait 2014; reworked 2017

• I. 1st state of 4

  Etching. A view of two overlapping rocky headlands, with the suggestion of water between them, and a strip of sea in the foreground. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. 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: ‘Erith & Deal Is. Bass S.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’14’.
  2. Impression on cream wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-1’; lower centre: ‘Erith & Deal Is. Bass S.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’14’.

• I.a. 1st state of 4

  

  Etching. A view of two overlapping rocky headlands with the suggestion of water between them, and a strip of sea in the foreground. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• II. 2nd state of 4

  

  The darkest shadows on the irregular cliffs of both islands have been deepened with the addition of drypoint accents. The far left vertical face of the furthermost island has been lengthened.

  Impression on wove Hahnemühle paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-2’; lower centre: ‘Erith and Deal Is. Bass St.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’14’.

• III. 3rd state of 4

  The far left vertical contour of Deal Island is now a broken, rather than continuous, line.

  Impression on wove Hahnemühle paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-3’; lower centre: ‘Erith and Deal Is Bass St’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’14’.

• First edition, 2014

  Edition of twenty numbered impressions, on wove Velin Arches 250 gsm paper, printed by Simon White at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), October 2014. The edition included a bon à tirer impression (with light film of plate tone, on Hahnemühle paper), two artist’s proofs, 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 20]/20’; lower centre: ‘Erith & Deal Is Bass St.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’14’.

  Edition sheet size: 254 x 285 mm

• Edition impression, 2014, with plate tone

  

  The far left vertical contour of Deal Island is now a broken, rather than continuous, line.

• IV. 4th and final state

   

  

  The clouds have been significantly burnished back, and the image has been lightly burnished overall to remove burr. In the centre of the image, surrounding the central outcrop of Erith Island (the foremost island), drypoint lines have been added to the cliff-face of the furthermost island (Deal Island). Although this state is inscribed ‘1-1’, this is the fourth state of this image.

  Impression with light plate tone, selectively wiped on furthermost island, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower centre: ‘Erith & Deal Is.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor ‘17’.

• Second edition, 2017

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Somerset paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at Kate Herd’s studio, Alphington. The edition included a bon à tirer impression, an hors commerce impression, and three artist’s proofs (described under ‘X. 4th and final state’, above). Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[1 through 10]/10; lower centre: ‘Erith & Deal Is.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ‘17’.

   

  Edition sheet size: 380 x 280 mm

• Edition impression, 2017, with plate-tone (Featured Image)

  

• Comment

  Erith and Deal Islands are the two largest islands of the Kent Group, in Bass Strait, separated from one another by a narrow stretch of sea known as Murray Pass. They are now uninhabited but are accessible by special arrangement. Amor, who stayed on Erith Island during the first fortnight in January 2014, calls it ‘a wild and wonderful place’.

  The view depicted here is from the beach at West Cove on Erith Island, looking north-east towards Deal Island. An area of light surrounding the cliffs at the centre of the image indicates the pass between the granite headlands of the two islands (Erith is on the left, Deal on the right). The etching faithfully follows the composition of a watercolour, with adjustments made to accommodate the squarer format of the copper plate. There is also a version of the subject painted in oils (Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston). Amor etched the present work in the latter half of 2014, during his treatment for lung cancer, with which he had been diagnosed in June of that year. The print was made to be sold as a fundraiser for the Australian Print Workshop.

  In 2017, Amor revisited this plate, burnishing throughout, resulting in a slightly lighter image overall.

  While difficult to access, Erith Island has a significant place in Australian landscape art, as it has been visited by a number of important artists, including, in 1974, Fred Williams and Clifton Pugh, in the company of the historian Ian Turner and the writer and editor Stephen Murray-Smith. Williams’s depictions of the island and its surroundings show the landscape from various perspectives, but always from a distance, whereas in E.175 Amor confronts it dramatically, at close range, with the granite cliffs looming above the sea.