Rick Amor

An Online Catalogue Raisonné of the Prints by Irena Zdanowicz

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Out to sea 1991

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I. 1st state of 6

IV. 4th state of 6

VI. 6th and final state (bon à tirer impression) (Featured Image)

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E.036 Out to sea 1991

  • I. 1st state of 6

    Etching. A view of the mouth of a river, with three mooring poles at left and others in the far distance. In the right foreground is a small motorized boat with a man at the stern, steering the craft out to sea. The subject is essentially complete. A small area of grey burnishing marks is visible in the upper left part of the sky.

    Impression on cream wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Out to Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • II. 2nd state of 6

    Drypoint has been added to the back of the hooded figure and to the interior of the boat’s canopy. The sea immediately below the prow has been burnished.

    Impression on cream wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Out to Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • III. 3rd state of 6

    More drypoint has been added to the interior of the boat. There are four variant impressions of this state.

    1. Impression on cream wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Out to Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.
    2. Slightly darker impression on cream wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Out to Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’. Although inscribed ‘4’, this is an impression of the third state.
    3. Dark impression with heavy plate tone, on cream wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Out to Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’. Although inscribed ‘5’, this is an impression of the third state.
    4. Impression on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Out to Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’. Although inscribed ‘6’, this is an impression of the third state.
  • IV. 4th state of 6

    More etching has been added throughout the plate: to the sea, the sky, the boat, the land at both right and left, and all the mooring poles. The whole image appears much darker – now a late-twilight scene.

    Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘7 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Out to Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’. Although inscribed ‘7’, this is the fourth state.

  • V. 5th state of 6

    The promontory at right has been burnished to lighten it.

    Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘8 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Out to Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’. Although inscribed ‘8’, this is the fifth state.

  • VI. 6th and final state

    Additional burnishing has been applied: to the promontory at right, to the lower part of the sky, and around the prow of the boat.

    Somewhat dry impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘Bon à tirer’; lower centre: ‘Out to Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’. This the sixth and final state is also a bon à tirer impression and forms part of the edition.

  • VI. 6th and final state (bon à tirer impression) (Featured Image)

    Additional burnishing has been applied: to the promontory at right, to the lower part of the sky, and around the prow of the boat.

  • Edition, 1991

    Nominal edition of twenty, but only ten impressions were printed and numbered. These are on cream wove Stonehenge paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books) and were printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. The edition included a bon à tirer impression (described under ‘VI. 6th and final state’, above) and three artist’s proofs, on white and cream wove papers. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/20’; lower centre: ‘Out to Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

    Edition sheet size: 388 x 558 mm

  • Comment

    The setting in this etching is the mouth of Kananook Creek, where it enters Port Phillip Bay at Frankston. The subject of the print has been etched from memory, which may explain the primordial atmosphere of the scene. Motorized dinghies were common during Amor’s childhood, but the one depicted here, with its hooded boatman, inevitably calls to mind the vessel in which the mythical figure of Charon ferried the dead to the underworld, across the river Styx.

    In the early 1990s, Amor made a number of works that present variations on this subject, including two woodcuts that are close variants of the composition seen in E.036, and a slightly later etching, The boat, 1991 (cat. no. E.056), which depicts the boatman on his return from the sea. A pencil drawing from 1996 continues the theme, but its rendering relies more on observation than it does on the transformations of memory (Niagara Galleries 1997).

Etching. A view of the mouth of a river, with three mooring poles at left and others in the far distance. In the right foreground is a small motorized boat with a man at the stern, steering the craft out to sea. The subject is essentially complete. A small area of grey burnishing marks is visible in the upper left part of the sky.

More etching has been added throughout the plate: to the sea, the sky, the boat, the land at both right and left, and all the mooring poles. The whole image appears much darker – now a late-twilight scene.

Additional burnishing has been applied: to the promontory at right, to the lower part of the sky, and around the prow of the boat.

Catalogue Number
E.036
Title and Date
Out to sea 1991
Description of Featured Image
A view of the mouth of a river, with three mooring poles at left and others in the far distance. In the right foreground is a small motorized boat with a canopy over the prow and with a man seated at the stern, steering his craft out to sea.
Where Made
Dunmoochin, Cottles Bridge
Medium Category and Technique
Intaglio Print: Etching, drypoint and burnishing on copper
Support
Wove paper. Identified papers: Cream BFK Rives paper with watermark: ‘BFK RIVES / FRANCE’ with infinity symbol. Other papers mentioned in notes on this work in Amor’s intaglio record books: cream Stonehenge paper.
Dimensions
Image size: 147 x 196 mm
Matrix size: 150 x 198 mm
Artist’s Record Number
RAE.30
Printer(s) and Workshop(s)
All impressions printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio, Cottles Bridge.
Summary Edition Information
Six states. Nominal edition of twenty, but only ten impressions printed and numbered, 1991.
Exhibitions
Niagara Galleries 1991: Niagara Galleries, Richmond (Melbourne), Rick Amor, 10–27 April 1991, no. 19.
Niagara Galleries & NETS Victoria 1993–94: Niagara Galleries & NETS Victoria, Melbourne, Rick Amor & the Graphic Arts, Victorian and Tasmanian tour, 1993–94, no. 44.
Niagara Galleries at IWOP 1997: Niagara Galleries at the International Works on Paper Fair, Mitchell Galleries, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, 17–­20 July 1997, no. 22f.
Literature
For an illustration of the pencil drawing Study for ‘Out to sea’, 1996, see Niagara Galleries, Rick Amor Drawings (exh. cat.), Niagara Galleries, Richmond, Victoria, 1997, unpaginated.
Collections
State Library of Victoria, Melbourne: eight state impressions, numbered 1 through 8; bon à tirer impression; ed. 8/20.
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide: AP III (20155G139).
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra: ed. 7/10, on cream wove paper (2007.655).
Comment

The setting in this etching is the mouth of Kananook Creek, where it enters Port Phillip Bay at Frankston. The subject of the print has been etched from memory, which may explain the primordial atmosphere of the scene. Motorized dinghies were common during Amor’s childhood, but the one depicted here, with its hooded boatman, inevitably calls to mind the vessel in which the mythical figure of Charon ferried the dead to the underworld, across the river Styx.

In the early 1990s, Amor made a number of works that present variations on this subject, including two woodcuts that are close variants of the composition seen in E.036, and a slightly later etching, The boat, 1991 (cat. no. E.056), which depicts the boatman on his return from the sea. A pencil drawing from 1996 continues the theme, but its rendering relies more on observation than it does on the transformations of memory (Niagara Galleries 1997).

Keywords
Boat, Frankston, Kananook Creek, Sea
URL
https://catalogue.rickamor.com.au/works/intaglio/out-to-sea/

Record last updated 15/02/2021
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