E.068 Helen Garner 1992

• I. 1st state of 10

  Drypoint. Portrait of Helen Garner, showing the face and neck. Garner’s head is turned slightly to the left. The facial features are very lightly outlined in drypoint and have been extensively drawn over in pencil. The use of pencil is especially noticeable in the hatching on the lips and in the modelling of the nose. A new contour, inside the printed one, has been added in pencil to the chin, thus fractionally shortening the length of the face. The background is blank.

  Impression on wove paper, printed, and extensively touched with pencil, by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.

• II. 2nd state of 10

  In line with the drawn additions in the first state, the chin has been shortened, the lips have been filled in with diagonal hatching, and stronger accents have been given to the eyes, to the ear at right, and to the left contour at the level of the left eye.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.

• III. 3rd state of 10

  Further hatched shading has been added to the hair; the face, including the eyes; and the ear and neck.

  Light, cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.

• IV. 4th state of 10

  

  Greater definition has been given to the hair. A contour has been added to the nose, and hatched modelling to the right cheek.

  Impression with strong burr, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.

• V. 5th state of 10

  More strands have been added to the hair at left. There are three variant impressions of this state. Impression V.c is extensively touched with pencil. The main areas of drawing are the right background, the eyes and neck, the left contour of the face, and the hair, where several strands have been added, to the left of the face.

  1. Selectively wiped impression with much plate tone, especially at the bottom of the plate, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.
  2. Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. Although inscribed ‘6’, this is an impression of the fifth state.
  3. Impression on wove paper with a slightly textured surface, printed, and extensively touched with pencil, by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘7 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. Although inscribed ‘7’, this is an impression of the fifth state.

• V.a. 5th state of 10

  

  More strands have been added to the hair at left. There are three variant impressions of this state.

• V.c. 5th state of 10, extensively touched with pencil

  

  Impression V.c is extensively touched with pencil. The main areas of drawing are the right background, the eyes and neck, the left contour of the face, and the hair, where several strands have been added, to the left of the face.

• VI. 6th state of 10

  Light shading has been added to the neck and shoulder at the right.

  Impression on wove paper with a slightly textured surface, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘8 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. Although inscribed ‘8’, this is the sixth state.

• VII. 7th state of 10

  Strokes of vertical shading have been added in the right background, beside the head; several strands of hair have been added to the top of the head.

  Impression on wove paper with a slightly textured surface, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘9 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. Although inscribed ‘9’, this is the seventh state.

• VIII. 8th state of 10

  Oblique hatching has been added to the background to the right of the head; the left earring is now complete.

  Impression on wove paper with a slightly textured surface, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘10 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. Although inscribed ‘10’, this is the eighth state.

• IX. 9th state of 10

  Oblique touches of drypoint have been added to the neck, below the area of deepest shadow at right.

  Impression on wove paper with a slightly textured surface, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘11 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. Although inscribed ‘11’, this is the ninth state.

• X. 10th and final state

  The right contour of the face has been filled in and strengthened. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove paper with a slightly textured surface, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘12 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘HG’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. Although inscribed ‘12’, this is an impression of the tenth and final state. (Featured Image)
  2. Impression on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP I’; lower centre: ‘Helen Garner’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.

• X.a. 10th and final state (Featured Image)

  

  The right contour of the face has been filled in and strengthened. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• Edition, 1992

  Edition of five numbered impressions, on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[1 through 5]/5’; lower centre: ‘Helen Garner’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.

  Edition sheet size: 382 x 282 mm

• Comment

  This is the first of five portrait prints of Australian writers that Amor was commissioned to make for the literary journal Overland, by its editor, the poet Barrett (Barrie) Reid, in 1992. The only woman in the group was Helen Garner (b. 1942), a writer of fiction and nonfiction, as well as a journalist and screenwriter.

  In 1992, Garner was fifty years of age and had recently published the fictional work Cosmo Cosmolino. While Amor knew some of the writers he had been commissioned to portray, this was not the case with Garner. Amor met her for the first time when he went to draw her at her home in Melbourne on 29 October 1992. The resulting pencil portrait became the model for the present drypoint. The sketch is oriented in the same direction as the print but is placed higher up on its page and includes more of the neck and shoulders. However, the slightly turned head and the facial expression are extremely similar in the two works.

  Although Amor took the drypoint through ten states and printed several variant impressions, many of the adjustments he made in the states were very small ones, as he laboured to capture not only the likeness of his subject but also the expression that he had captured in his drawing.

  Amor’s other subjects for the 1992 Overland commission were Barry Hill (cat. no. E.070), David Malouf (E.072), Chris Wallace-Crabbe (E.080) and Barrett Reid (E.081).