E.006 Nude 1988

• I. 1st state of 5, 1988

  

  Etching. A woman wearing socks and a brassiere lies on a bed, supporting herself on her knees and elbows. Her head is turned frontwards, with only the eyes visible. The depiction omits most tonal definition, and the entire scene is summarily delineated with pure line etching.

  Cleanly wiped impression with mottled brown staining in the lower part, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor at Phillip Institute of Technology, Bundoora (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Nude’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’88’.

• II. 2nd state of 5, 1988

  

  Drypoint has been added to the bed, the background, and the woman’s hair.

  Impression with rich burr and faint plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor at Phillip Institute of Technology, Bundoora (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Nude’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’88’.

   

• III. 3rd state of 5, 1988

  Drypoint hatching has been added throughout, including to the modelling of the woman’s body.

  Impression without drypoint burr, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor at Phillip Institute of Technology, Bundoora (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Nude’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 88’.

• IV. 4th state of 5, 1988

  Oblique hatching has been added to many areas of the plate, including the woman’s face and body, the strip of bed along the lower edge of the composition, and the background.

  Rich impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor at Phillip Institute of Technology, Bundoora (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Nude’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 88’.

• V. 5th and final state, 1988

  More etched hatching has been added to the left of the bedspread, and on parts of the face and body, so as to increase the sense of plasticity and articulation. The whole now appears to be set in half light. There are two variant impressions of this state, one dated 1988 and the other dated 1989.

  1. Impression with plate tone, on wove Arches Moulin du Gué paper with partial watermark, printed by Rick Amor at Phillip Institute of Technology, Bundoora (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Nude’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 88’.
  2. Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor at Phillip Institute of Technology, Bundoora (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘A/P’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 89’. (Featured Image)

• V.b. Artist’s proof of 5th and final state, 1989 (Featured Image)

  

  More etched hatching has been added to the left of the bedspread, and on parts of the face and body, so as to increase the sense of plasticity and articulation. The whole now appears to be set in half light. There are two variant impressions of this state, one dated 1988 and the other dated 1989.

• No edition

• Comment

  This etching is based on a drawing done from life on 9 October 1988, at Dunmoochin, the artists’ colony at Cottles Bridge (outer Melbourne) to which Amor and his partner, the artist Meg Williams, moved in May 1985. Williams is the model here, and the curtain that hangs loosely down the centre of the composition is a mosquito net. The pencil drawing on which this work is based shows the subject in reverse orientation and rendered from a slightly greater distance. The subject was drawn on the plate at Dunmoochin, but was etched and printed at Phillip Institute of Technology, Bundoora.

  The matrix on which E.006 was made has been lost, but Amor recalls that it was a zinc plate, not copper.