E.057 Self portrait 1991–92; reworked 1993

• I. 1st state of 6, 1991

  

  Etching. Amor portrays himself seated, with legs crossed, looking intently at a mirror in front of him as he draws his self-image on an etching plate. Behind him is an easel, seen from the rear; a guitar hangs at the left. On a table in front of Amor, at the lower left, is an artist’s palette, circular in form, and at the lower right is a square palette. The composition is lightly etched.

  Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘SP’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• II. 2nd state of 6, 1991

  A band of parallel horizontal hatching has been added behind the head, and more detail has been etched into the face in order to give it greater volume. The plate has been re-etched. There are four variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression with plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Self Portrait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.
  2. Selectively wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Self Portrait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.
  3. Impression not sighted.
  4. Impression not sighted.

• II.b. 2nd state of 6, 1991

  

  A band of parallel horizontal hatching has been added behind the head, and more detail has been etched into the face in order to give it greater volume. The plate has been re-etched. There are four variant impressions of this state.

• III. 3rd state of 6, 1992

  More etched lines have been added to the modelling of the face, again so as to better convey volume. Vertical lines have been added to the sections of easel to the right of the face and immediately to the right of the guitar.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Self Portrait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.

• IV. 4th state of 6, 1992

  

  Drypoint has been added to the figure and to the background.

  Impression with rich burr, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Self Portrait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.

• V. 5th state of 6, 1992

  Vertical drypoint strokes have been added to the shoulder at left. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Selectively wiped impression with plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP II’; lower centre: ‘Self Portrait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. The plate tone has been left on the rectangle outlining the easel behind the artist.
  2. More cleanly wiped impression in warm black ink, with strong burr, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP III’; lower centre: ‘Self Portrait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’.
  3. Selectively wiped impression in warm black ink, with plate tone, on wove Hahnemühle paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP IV’; lower centre: ‘Self Portrait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’92’. The plate tone has been left around the area of the figure.

• VI. 6th and final state, 1993 (Featured Image)

  

  The contour of the head, together with the darkest areas of the face, has been strengthened with etched lines. Drypoint has been added to the contour of the shoulders, and vertical lines of drypoint have been added to both shoulders.

  Impression on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP I’; lower centre: ‘SP’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’93’.

• No edition

• Comment

  This self portrait was drawn in front of a mirror, directly onto the copper plate. Amor began E.057 in the last days of 1991 and continued working on it in the early part of 1992. He then set the plate aside, returning to it in February 1993, when he made a sixth and final state, but he did not print an edition.

  Amor refers to the artist’s palette at left as a ‘Max Meldrum palette’, after the Australian tonalist painter, teacher and theoretician Max Meldrum (1875–1955), who believed that the representation of the appearance of things could be achieved with scientific accuracy only through carefully observed tonal painting.

  The guitar hanging in the left background is Amor’s. The artist learned the instrument in his youth, when he played in various jazz bands. He continues to play occasionally, and in 2009 provided the guitar accompaniment for a track on the Gutbucket Jug Band’s CD Singing Syrup Sinfonia (track 13: ‘Sitting on Top of the World’).