E.017 Self portrait 1990–91

• I. 1st state of 4, 1990

  

  Etching. A depiction of the head and upper torso of the artist, summarily etched. The background is blank but there is foul biting throughout the plate.

  Impression on 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 right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 90’.

• II. 2nd state of 4, 1990

  Oblique hatched lines have been added to the left side of the face, and curved lines to the forehead. The vertical line on the bridge of the nose has been burnished away at the bottom. Three horizontal lines of drypoint have been scored just above the lower edge of the plate.

  Impression on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘SP’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’.

• III. 3rd state of 4, 1990

  

  The tip of the nose has been covered with horizontal hatching, and several curved lines of definition have been added to the clothing. Parallel horizontal lines, scored in drypoint, have been added to the left background and above the right shoulder, and vertically oriented marks and squiggling have been added in the upper right quadrant.

  Impression on 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: ‘SP’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’.

• IV. 4th and final state, 1991

  The background has been covered with a dense layer of regular etched cross-hatching. The tip of the nose has been burnished, and modelled with short oblique parallel strokes. Some oblique hatching has been burnished from the centre left area of the face. Hatched shading has been added to the face, and new, loosely drawn etched lines now appear on the clothing. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on 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: ‘SP’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’. (Featured Image)
  2. Impression with plate tone, unevenly wiped in the lower half, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘A/P’; lower centre: ‘SP’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.
  3. Impression with dark plate tone, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘A/P’; lower centre: ‘SP’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• IV.a. 4th and final state, 1991 (Featured Image)

  

  The background has been covered with a dense layer of regular etched cross-hatching. The tip of the nose has been burnished, and modelled with short oblique parallel strokes. Some oblique hatching has been burnished from the centre left area of the face. Hatched shading has been added to the face, and new, loosely drawn etched lines now appear on the clothing. There are three variant impressions of this state.

• No edition

• Comment

  E.017 was etched on the verso of the copper plate on which cat. no. E.016 was made, and is the second of three small etched self portraits begun in early 1990. The third of these works is cat. no. E.018.