E.085 Self portrait 1994

• I. 1st state of 4

  Drypoint. Amor depicts himself peering over his spectacles at his reflection in a framed mirror as he draws his self image, with a drypoint needle, directly onto a copper plate. The subject is delineated lightly in drypoint. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Cleanly wiped, dry 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: ‘S.P.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 94’.
  2. Stronger 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: ‘S.P’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’94’. Although inscribed ‘2’, this is an impression of the first state.
  3. Impression with rich burr and much plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘S.P.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 94’. Although inscribed ‘3’, this is an impression of the first state.

• I.b. 1st state of 4

  

  Drypoint. Amor depicts himself peering over his spectacles at his reflection in a framed mirror as he draws his self image, with a drypoint needle, directly onto a copper plate. The subject is delineated lightly in drypoint. There are three variant impressions of this state.

• II. 2nd state of 4

  The date 1/1/94 has been added in drypoint at the lower left. Roulette tone and rocker tone have been added to the mirror frame at left; roulette tone has been added to the frame’s right member, to the vertical strip above the right shoulder, and to the resting arm. Horizontal strokes have been added in the area of the eyes, clarifying the half-rim spectacles. Oblique strokes of shading on the neck at right have been extended onto the clothing. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Cleanly wiped 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: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘S.P.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 94’. Although inscribed ‘4’, this is an impression of the second state.
  2. Darker impression with rich burr and plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘S.P’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 94’. Although inscribed ‘5’, this is an impression of the second state.

• II.b. 2nd state of 4

  

  The date 1/1/94 has been added in drypoint at the lower left. Roulette tone and rocker tone have been added to the mirror frame at left; roulette tone has been added to the frame’s right member, to the vertical strip above the right shoulder, and to the resting arm. Horizontal strokes have been added in the area of the eyes, clarifying the half-rim spectacles. Oblique strokes of shading on the neck at right have been extended onto the clothing. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• III. 3rd state of 4

  

  Long vertical strokes of drypoint have been added to Amor’s left and right, within the mirror frame.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘S.P.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’94’. Although inscribed ‘6’, this is the third state.

• IV. 4th and final state

  Horizontal drypoint strokes have been added at the left; two of these lines run through the date at the lower left, as though cancelling it out. More drypoint has been added to the image within the mirror frame. There are six variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove Moulin du Gué paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘7 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘S.P.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 94’. Although inscribed ‘7’, this is an impression of the fourth and final state.
  2. Selectively wiped impression with light plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘BAT’; lower centre: ‘S.P.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 94’. The face has been cleanly wiped. Although inscribed ‘BAT [bon à tirer]’, this is an impression of the fourth and final state.
  3. 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 I/IV’; lower centre: ‘S.P.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 94’. A strip down the centre of the image has been wiped and the right edge has been cleanly wiped.
  4. Cleanly wiped, light and dry impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP II/IV’; lower centre: ‘S.P.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 94’.
  5. Selectively wiped impression with rich burr and dark plate tone, on thick, soft wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP III/IV’; lower centre: ‘S.P.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’94’. Selective wiping has revealed the figure of the artist in light. (Featured Image)
  6. Cleanly wiped impression with rich burr, on thick, soft wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP IV/IV’; lower centre: ‘S.P.’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 94’.

• IV.e. Artist’s proof of 4th and final state (Featured Image)

  

  Horizontal drypoint strokes have been added at the left; two of these lines run through the date at the lower left, as though cancelling it out. More drypoint has been added to the image within the mirror frame. There are six variant impressions of this state.

• No edition

• Comment

  This work is, in part, an exercise – a deliberate homage to Henri Matisse in which Amor refers to Matisse’s earliest intaglio print, Self portrait of the artist etching (Duthuit 1), a drypoint made in around 1900. Matisse’s self portrait is, in turn, regarded as an homage to Rembrandt’s 1648 etched self portrait, Self portrait drawing at a window (Bartsch 22). Through his own act of homage, Amor was expressing his respect for the lessons and achievements of Matisse and the great masters of European art, while also placing himself decisively within their tradition.

  In his intaglio record books, Amor recorded seven states of E.085, but a number of these are variant impressions and not true states. After the initial delineation of the subject in the first state, which was printed in three variant impressions, the artist continued to refine his image in the second state, also emphatically adding to the plate a precise date: 1 January 1994. Such dating is extremely rare in Amor’s prints, and here the date formally ushered in a new year, and with it the beginning of a new body of work.

  The focus of the print was heightened in the third state, with lines of vertical drypoint scoring being added to Amor’s left and right; in the fourth state, tone was added with the roulette and the rocker, so as to better define the mirror’s frame, and thus to frame the subject more strongly.

  No two impressions of this drypoint are alike, the printing being experimental throughout, as cleanly wiped impressions alternate with dark ones.

  This is the last print that Amor made at Dunmoochin, Cottles Bridge, before moving to the Melbourne suburb of Alphington in April 1994.