E.179 SP at 70 2018

• I. 1st state of 8, 2018

  

  Drypoint. A head and shoulders self portrait, with beard, moustache and spectacles. The lines that indicate the top of Amor’s bald head are not connected, leaving a blank space. Overall, the portrait is sparsely drawn, mostly with lightly burred drypoint lines. There is minimal cross-hatching, which is present primarily on the nose, around the moustache, and on the right check turned slightly away from the viewer. The left eye and spectacle lens are noticeably darker than the right. The right shoulder is significantly darker than the left.

  Impression with sparse plate tone, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil below the plate-mark: lower left ‘1-1’, lower centre ‘SP at 70’, signed and dated lower right ‘R Amor ‘18’.

• II. 2nd state of 8, 2018

  Detail has been added to the iris and pupils of each eye, but the right has been made much darker than the left. The left eye retains a large spot of white in the pupil, giving the gaze an uneven appearance. Rich contouring marks have been added to the face: the brow arch has been deepened, the area directly beneath the eye has been cross-hatched, the beard and moustache are defined around the lips, the ears have been modelled, the neck has been shaded with a rich, tapering line on the left and a larger section of hatching on the right. A white collar is appearing between the artist’s neck and his jumper, which had been significantly darkened with cross-hatching. Small horizontal marks have been made up the right side of Amor’s bald head, whereas the left side is marked with small, angled lines.

  Impression with plate tone, selectively wiped over neck and shoulders, on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil below the plate-mark: lower left ‘1-2’, lower centre ‘SP at 70’, signed and dated lower right ‘R. Amor ‘18’.

• III. 3rd state of 8, 2018

  

  The pupils of each eye have now been evened, and both eyes have a defined iris and pupil. The artist has burnished back the marks around the top of the head, and has largely burnished back his right ear in order to redo it with lighter marks. Overall, the drypoint burr has been scrapped off over the entire face. Amor’s hatching and cross-hatching detailing his facial features now appear more delicate. Drypoint has been added to the shadows on Amor’s neck, which now features patches of rich burr marks. His jumper has been worked to include a dark outline, and further hatching to achieve a rich black, which subsequently makes the white of Amor’s collar stand out.

  Impression with plate tone, selectively wiped, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil below the plate-mark: lower left ‘1-3’, lower centre ‘SP at 70’, signed and dated lower right ‘R. Amor ‘18’.

• IV. 4th state of 8, 2018

  The right arm of Amor’s spectacles have now been shaded with drypoint lines. Overall, this state features a scraping back of drypoint burr, particularly on the front of the spectacles, the eyebrows, the eyelids, on the shading of the cheeks, the moustache and in the beard. A subtle white halo effect has appeared where the beard meets the neck, caused by the lightening of the area around the chin. Some very faint lines are present in the background, in the white expanse on the right-hand side of the plate. There are two varient impressions of this state.

  a. Impression with plate tone, selectively wiped, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil below the plate-mark: lower left ‘1-4’, lower centre ‘SP at 70’, signed and dated lower right ‘R. Amor ‘18’.

   

  b. Impression with plate tone, selectively wiped, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil below the plate-mark: lower left ‘1-5’, lower centre ‘SP at 70’, signed and dated lower right ‘R. Amor ‘18’. Although inscribed ‘1-5’, this is an impression of the fourth state.

• IV.b. 4th state of 8, 2018 (with plate-tone)

  

  An edition of this state was printed by Rosalind Atkins at Kate Herd’s studio in 2018, but was later destroyed.

• V. 5th state of 8. 2018

  

  The plate has been extensively burnished and re-etched. Marks on Amor’s face, ears, neck, and the marks in the background of the plate have been removed and are now only faintly visible. The artist’s jumper has also been burnished and scraped back. On the left side of Amor’s head there are a few brief etching marks distinguishing a new outline, these have been placed further left than the previous marks. The creases in the artist’s forehead are now indicated in small, slanted marks, while the past markings are still discernible beneath. Amor’s left eyebrow has been emphasised with a few marks on the arch, whereas his right eyebrow has been more significantly redrawn, with a prominent underline and hatching over the semi-erased marks. Amor’s eyes are now indicated with concise lines showing the lid, his iris is subtly outlined while the pupil is present only in the right eye. The artist’s spectacles have been lightly rerendered, with the right arm mainly indicated in outline only. The shadows on Amor’s face are shown in hatching and cross-hatching over the existing marks, most prominently under his eyebrows, on the bridge and tip of this nose, under his eyes, under his left cheekbone, under his nose and around his cheeks. Amor’s beard and moustache is indicated with some sparse lines drawn over the remnant burnished marks.

   

  Impression on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at Kate Herd’s studio. Inscribed in pencil below the plate-mark: lower left ‘1-6’, lower centre ‘SP at 70’, signed and dated lower right ‘R. Amor ‘18’. Although inscribed ‘1-6’, this is an impression of the fifth state.

• VI. 6th state of 8, 2018

  Drypoint accents have been added to the facial features, particularly in the centre of the face, from the eyebrows down to the lips. A prominent line of vertical, uneven dashes has been added to the artist’s forehead, from the centre of his head down to the inner tip of the right eyebrow. Crosshatching has been added to the eyebrows and the area directly beneath the eyebrows. The eyes, including the iris, pupils, sclera (whites), lids and area beneath the eye have been heavily worked with etched lines. There are additional parallel marks in this area that indicate the transparent lenses of the spectacles. A long outlining mark has been added to the upper portion of the left ear. There is more shading added to the cheeks and around the mouth. Beneath the nose the artist has added lines to substantially thicken the moustache. The shadows on the neck have been burnished and redrawn with lighter hatching. The jumper has been significantly burnished and new cross-hatched drypoint has been applied. The white collar on the left has been drawn over with drypoint lines, so there is no white emphasis remaining on that side. Some subtle ‘noise’ has been added by foul-biting in the background directly under and directly above Amor’s left ear, and in the upper left corner.

   

   

  Impression with heavy plate tone, on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rosalind Atkins at Kate Herd’s studio. Inscribed in pencil below the plate-mark: lower left ‘1-7’, lower centre ‘SP at 70’, signed and dated lower right ‘R Amor ‘18’. Although inscribed ‘1-7’, this is an impression of the sixth state.

• VII. 7th state of 8, 2018

  

  Significant drypoint burr has been applied to both eyebrows, particularly the right. Amor’s eyelid and beneath the eye has dark drypoint marks outlining the eye, and the right pupil is now a rich black. The artist’s spectacles have been darkened around the lenses. More drypoint burr has been added to Amor’s jumper.

  Impression with plate tone, selectively wiped, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at Kate Herd’s studio. Inscribed in pencil below the plate-mark: lower left ‘1-8’, lower centre ‘SP at 70’, signed and dated lower right ‘R.. Amor ‘18’. Although inscribed ‘1-8’, this is an impression of the seventh state.

• VIII. 8th and final state, 2018

  Two vertical creases have been etched to the left of the artist’s right eyebrow, continuing and emphasising the eyebrows’ downward slope. While two horizontal creases have been addes in the middle of the forehead, directly above the brow. Several angled marks have been etched between the eyebrows and around the artist’s left eyebrow, to indicate a deepening wrinkling of the brow. The iris of the left eye had been darkened, and there is the suggestion of a pupil. The drypoint burr on the lower line of the left eye has been scrapped so that this lower outline is lighter. A small section of etched cross-hatching has been added to the tip of the nose. Etched cross-hatched lines have been added to the shading around the mouth and all white space around the lips, including within the moustache and beneath the lips, to add shading. Some burr has been removed from the drypoint lines on the right shoulder. More foul-biting ‘noise’ has been added to the background down the left of the print and along the top, directly above Amor’s head.

  Impression with plate tone, selectively wiped, on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rosalind Atkins at Kate Herd’s studio. Inscribed in pencil below the plate-mark: lower left ‘1-9’, lower centre ‘SP at 70’, signed and dated lower right ‘R.. Amor ‘18’. Although inscribed ‘1-9’, this is an impression of the eighth state.

• Edition, 2018

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on cream wove Somerset paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at Kate Herd’s studio. The edition included a bon à tirer impression, an hors commerce impression and five artist’s proofs with variable plate tone and selective wiping (APs on either BFK Rives or Hanhnemühle paper). Each edition impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘SP at 70’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor ‘18’.

   

  Edition sheet size: 235 x 270 mm

• Edition impression (edition, 2018), SP at 70

  

• Comment

  This self portrait was begun in 2018, marking the artist’s seventieth year. The top of the head lacks a defining contour, giving the appearance of a portrait that is dematerialising into the background; this feature is emphasised as the work progressed through its various states. The majority of the artist’s marks are concentrated on the central space between Amor’s naturally arched eyebrows and his chin; Amor’s first five states were devoted to detailing and darkening this area in fine, sketchy lines. In his fifth state, the artist burnished most of the detail on the face, and etched over the remaining drypoint lines. The result of this process meant the eyebrows, eyes, spectacles, nose, cheeks, mouth and facial hair were drawn with more defined, graphic lines. The earlier, finer drypoint lines are still fainty present in the final edition, as a ghostly shadow that adds richness and contour to the image.

   

  The self portrait was a pure drypoint up to the fifth state. Until that point, the only tools Amor used apart from the drypoint needle was a burnisher and scraper to remove drypoint burr. An edition was printed of this state but later destroyed. From the fifth state onwards the image was drastically burnished back and largely rerendered as an etching. This self image was worked directly on the plate, without the use of preparatory studies.