The highlights have been lightened, and clouds are now visible at the left as well as the right. The sea is now clearly turbulent.
The sea and sky are now uniformly light, and the subject emerges clearly through the darkness.
The clouds at the upper right have been burnished yet again and are now considerably lighter.
- Catalogue Number
- E.069
- Title and Date
- Sea structures 1992
- Description of Featured Image
- A wooden platform, raised on seven supports, stands in an angry sea. To the left of the platform is a tall navigational marker, which leans to the right. The sky is filled with storm clouds. Although inscribed as a bon à tirer impression, this is actually the thirteenth and final state of this print.
- Where Made
- Dunmoochin, Cottles Bridge
- Medium Category and Technique
- Intaglio Print: Mezzotint on copper
- Support
- Wove paper. Identified papers: Moulin du Gué paper with watermark: three flowers; BFK Rives paper with watermark: ‘BFK RIVES / FRANCE’ with infinity symbol; Arches paper with watermark: ‘ARCHES france’ with infinity symbol.
- Dimensions
-
Image size: 64 x 83 mm
Matrix size: 64 x 83 mm - Artist’s Record Number
- RAE.64
- Printer(s) and Workshop(s)
- All impressions printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio, Cottles Bridge.
- Summary Edition Information
- Thirteen states. No edition.
- Collections
- State Library of Victoria, Melbourne: twelve state impressions, numbered 1 through 12; bon à tirer impression.
- Comment
The composition of this mezzotint brings together two separate structures that Amor sketched during the boat trip he took on 20 February 1992, with three of his artist friends, to the mouth of the Yarra River: a tall navigational marker and a wooden platform. Here the two motifs have been placed side by side, and transposed from their river setting to a stormy sea.
It is an inherent aspect of the mezzotint process that the subject is brought into being progressively, as light tones are obtained through incremental burnishing. The steps taken in the creation of a new state may appear to be very slight, and it can therefore be difficult to be certain when a change has been made to the plate and a new state produced. Such is the case here. Nevertheless, we are guided by the fact that Amor himself says that he takes a proof of a mezzotint only when necessary, that is, only when he has made a change to the plate. Hence, when state proofs of mezzotints have been recorded in his intaglio record books, it is reasonable to assume that each one represents a change having been made to the matrix.
Contrary to expectations, Amor finds that mezzotints require more pressure when printing than do other intaglio prints. His records indicate that he had planned to print an edition of ten impressions of E.069, but, having proofed it so many times, he decided not to return to it.
The other intaglio prints that resulted from Amor’s drawing excursion on the Yarra in February 1992 are River marker, 1992 (cat. no. E.065), and Sea structure, 1992 (cat. no. E.067).
- Keywords
- Sea, Stormy sea, Yarra River, Melbourne
- URL
- https://catalogue.rickamor.com.au/works/intaglio/sea-structures/
Record last updated 15/02/2021