E.115 Michael Kelly 1998

• I. 1st state of 3

  

  Soft-ground etching. A rough sketch in soft-ground etching of the head and shoulders of Michael Kelly, his head turned slightly to the right. Foul biting is scattered across the plate but is most prominent at the lower centre.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Michael Kelly’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 98’.

• II. 2nd state of 3

  

  Drypoint hatching has been added to many areas of the face and hair.

  Impression with even, light grey plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Michael Kelly’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 98’.

• III. 3rd and final state

  Much work in drypoint has been added, especially to the face. Roulette work has been introduced to intensify the blackness of the hair. Amor’s records indicate that no separate state proofs were printed of this state.

• Edition, 1998

  Variable edition of seven numbered impressions, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[1 through 7]/7’; lower centre: ‘Michael Kelly’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 98’. This edition is exceedingly variable. Some impressions are cleanly wiped while others are printed with dark plate tone, showing the face highlighted amid a deep blackness.

  Edition sheet size: 379 x 284 mm

• Edition impression, 1998 (Featured Image)

  

  Much work in drypoint has been added, especially to the face. Roulette work has been introduced to intensify the blackness of the hair.

• Comment

  Michael Kelly (b. 1956) is a painter of landscapes and still lifes, and an art teacher, now based in Sydney. In 1996, in Melbourne, Kelly joined the informal plein-air painting group initiated by Rick Amor and Philip Davey (b. 1949); he also lived for a time at Dunmoochin, Cottles Bridge, where Amor had lived.

  This portrait of Kelly was done from life, in Amor’s Alphington studio, drawn onto paper over a soft etching ground on the copper plate. Amor took full advantage of the quality of informality inherent in the soft-ground line as he created a roughly sketched portrait of his friend; at the same time, he incorporated into the image the plate’s accidental markings, with the foul biting adding to the portrait’s immediacy and directness.

  As the portrait developed, through two further states, Amor focused on the intense expression of Kelly’s gaunt face, delineating it in greater detail before, finally, using a roulette to render the dark mass of the hair. In printing the edition of E.115, Amor experimented with plate tone and wiping as a means of modulating the portrait’s emotional pitch and pictorial character.

  The verso of the copper plate for this portrait was used for the etching Winter, Alphington 1998 (cat. no. E.114).