E.182 KL 2018

• I. 1st state of 4, 2018

  

  Drypoint and burnishing. A portrait of Kevin Lincoln’s head, against a blank background. Lincoln is shown head-on, with his face is turned slightly to the left. His shirt is crew-necked, and he appears to be wearing the square-neck of an apron over the top. There is evidence of burnishing around the head, and down the left side of the head, where the ear and cheek may have been sketched and then removed.

  Impression with plate tone only in the margins of the plate edge, on wove BFK Rives paper, with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1–1’, lower centre: ‘KL’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor ‘18’.

• II. 2nd state of 4, 2018

  Amor has lightly added drypoint marks to define the outline on the top of Lincoln’s head, as well as a few short, light diagonal marks on his forehead. A few horizontal lines have been added the left eye, while more have been added to the tip of the nose. Amor has deepened the contour on Lincoln’s neck, specifically on the centre over his Adam’s apple, and slightly to the right of this spot. A dark patch of drypoint burr has been removed by burnishing the hair above Lincoln’s right ear.

  Impression with plate tone selectively wiped and darker in the margins of the plate edge, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1–2’, lower centre: ‘KL’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor ‘18’.

• III. 3rd state of 4, 2018

  

  Amor has burnished away light marks within the spectacle glass on the left eye, as well as the small amount of hair behind the left temple, and the jowl-lines reaching down from the corners of Lincoln’s mouth. Drypoint burr has been added in cross-hatched marks to define the glass over the left eye, with a more defined iris and pupil form beneath. The lower curve of the spectacles on the left eye have been overdrawn to make a continuous line. The right eye has also been strengthened with over-drawing drypoint lines. The hair behind the left temple has been re-drawn, whereas curving marks have been flicked to emphasise the hair behind the right temple. The right ear has had an additional line added to its outline, giving the mid-point more flesh and a more pronounced curve. Amor has also added drypoint marks to the hair coming from behind Lincoln’s head, which appears trimmed at shoulder length below his right ear. More hatching has been added to the shadow on the neck, which removes some of the emphasis on Lincoln’s Adam’s apple. The apples of both cheeks have been defined with sloping lines, and the right nostril has been emphasised with new, sloping drypoint lines.

  Impression with plate tone only in the margins of the plate edge, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1–3’, lower centre: ‘KL’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor ‘18’.

• IV. 4th and final state, 2018

  

  Drypoint. Amor has added drypoint lines that curve along the jowl-line, emphasising his tense mouth and the beard on Lincoln’s chin. More lines have also been added to the lower contour of Lincoln chin to strengthen the lines of the beard there. More drypoint burr has been added to the inner-ear of the upper section of the right ear.

  Impression with plate tone, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1–4’, lower centre: ‘KL’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor ‘18’.

• No edition

• Comment

  Rick Amor and Kevin Lincoln (b. 1941) have been friends for many years, and both artists have made portraits of each other. Amor has painted a caricature of Lincoln, as well as a portrait in oils (Niagara Galleries 1996). An earlier intaglio print (E.113) was made when Lincoln was fifty-seven years old. E.182 was made when Lincoln was seventy-seven.

   

  The portrait was first scored in drypoint, and was subsequently worked up. While Amor’s 1998 portrait of Lincoln positioned the artist at a distance from his subject, this composition is closer, mirroring the increasing directness of some of Amor’s own self-portraits. Throughout the four states, Lincoln’s bald head is shown in the light, while his face and eyes are defined increasingly by contour shadows. This combined with his circular spectacles (a shape Amor also wears) is another feature that aligns Amor’s portrait of Lincoln with his later self-portraits.