
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.
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.
Two small vertical strokes have been added below the chin. There are two variant impressions of this state.
- Catalogue Number
- E.164
- Title and Date
- Self portrait at 63
2011–12
- Description of Featured Image
- A frontal head and shoulders self portrait with beard and moustache. Amor wears spectacles, his shirt is unbuttoned at the neck and he looks straight ahead.
- Where Made
- Alphington, Melbourne
- Medium Category and Technique
- Intaglio Print: Drypoint and burnishing on copper
- Support
- Wove paper. Identified papers: Somerset paper with watermark: ‘Somerset / ENGLAND’; Velin Arches paper.
- Dimensions
-
Image size: 342 x 219 mm
Matrix size: 345 x 223 mm - Artist’s Record Number
- RAE.201
- Printer(s) and Workshop(s)
- All state impressions printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Edition printed by Simon White at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne).
- Summary Edition Information
- Five states. Edition of ten numbered impressions, 2012.
- Exhibitions
- Niagara Galleries 2012: Niagara Galleries, Richmond (Melbourne), Rick Amor 2012, 28 August – 29 September 2012, no. 10, ed. 1/10.
- Australian Print Workshop 2014: Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), APW George Collie Memorial Award Exhibition: Rick Amor + Noel Counihan, 30 August – 4 October 2014, no. 15.
- Art Gallery of South Australia 2016–17: Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Rick Amor: Contemporary Romantic, 2 December 2016 – 30 April 2017 [no catalogue].
- Literature
- Niagara Galleries, Rick Amor (exh. cat.), Niagara Galleries, Richmond, Victoria, 2012, cat. no. 10, ed. 1/10 (illustrated).
- Collections
- State Library of Victoria, Melbourne: seven state impressions, numbered 1-1 through 1-6, all dated 2011; one state impression, numbered 1-7, dated 2012; AP 2/2, dated 2012.
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide: ed. 7/10, dated 2012 (promised gift).
- British Museum, London: APW presentation proof 1/2, dated 2012 (2013,7021.2).
- 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.
- Keywords
- Self portrait
- URL
- https://catalogue.rickamor.com.au/works/intaglio/self-portrait-at-63/
Record last updated 17/02/2021