E.164 Self portrait at 63 2011–12

• I. 1st state of 5, 2011

  

  Drypoint. A frontal self portrait with beard and moustache, showing the head and neck. Amor wears spectacles, his shirt is unbuttoned at the neck and he looks straight ahead. The blank background has delicate but clear vertical scratches at the upper right and more scratches at the lower left.

  Impression on wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower centre: ‘SP at 63’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’.

• II. 2nd state of 5, 2011

  Two short rows of oblique strokes at the top of the forehead have been burnished away and replaced with a patch of lightly curved horizontal strokes. More drypoint has been added to the shadowed areas at the right of the face, around the eye, the top of the cheek, the lower ear lobe, and the right half of the neck; stubble has been added below the ear. At the same time, some of the highlights have been burnished, notably on the top of the nose.

  Impression on wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-2’; lower centre: ‘SP at 63’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’. A patch of ink has been left at the top of the collar at left.

• III. 3rd state of 5, 2011

  Delicate hatching has been applied to many areas of the plate; this includes oblique hatching on the crown of the head, cross-hatching on the inner left ear (to make it tonally consistent with the right ear), and cross-hatching under the folds of the collar at both sides. The inner contour of the collar at left has been more strongly defined, as has the crease of the mouth. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-3’; lower centre: ‘SP at 63’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’.
  2. Cleanly wiped impression on wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-4’; lower centre: ‘SP at 63’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’. Although inscribed ‘1-4’, this is an impression of the third state.

• III.a. 3rd state of 5, 2011

  

  Delicate hatching has been applied to many areas of the plate; this includes oblique hatching on the crown of the head, cross-hatching on the inner left ear (to make it tonally consistent with the right ear), and cross-hatching under the folds of the collar at both sides. The inner contour of the collar at left has been more strongly defined, as has the crease of the mouth. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• IV. 4th state of 5, 2011

  A small patch of oblique hatching has been added just below the hinge of the left lens. Light oblique striations now extend from the bridge of the nose across the left cheek.

  Cleanly wiped impression on wove Somerset paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-5’; lower centre: ‘SP at 63’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’. Although inscribed ‘1-5’, this is the fourth state.

• V. 5th and final state, 2011

  Two small vertical strokes have been added below the chin. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Selectively wiped impression with plate tone, on wove Somerset paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-6’; lower centre: ‘SP at 63’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’11’. Although inscribed ‘1-6’, this is an impression of the fifth and final state. In this impression, plate tone shrouds the face in dark shadow.
  2. Cleanly wiped impression but with rich burr, on wove Somerset paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-7’; lower centre: ‘SP at 63’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’12’. Although inscribed ‘1-7’, this is an impression of the fifth and final state.

• V.b. 5th and final state, 2011

  

  Two small vertical strokes have been added below the chin. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• Edition, 2012

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Velin Arches paper, printed by Simon White at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne). The edition included two artist’s proofs, two APW workshop proofs, and two presentation proofs. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘SP’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’12’. Chop mark embossed in lower right corner: ‘APW [within horizontal rectangle]’.

  Edition sheet size: 560 x 380 mm

• Artist’s proof (part of edition, 2012) (Featured Image)

  

• Comment

  This self portrait was scored directly onto the plate in 2011, after Amor had turned sixty-three (on 3 March), and was worked on into 2012, when it was editioned. Its five states show an incremental progression from a strong graphic rendering, printed with rich burr, towards a more tonal portrayal, modelled with delicate drypoint effects.

  The work was commissioned by the Australian Print Workshop for inclusion in its 2014 exhibition APW George Collie Memorial Award Exhibition: Rick Amor + Noel Counihan.