E.147 Street at night, Venice 2007

• I. 1st state of 13

  

  Burnished aquatint. A night view onto an irregular Venetian courtyard surrounded by buildings, with a rectangular opening in the centre distance, illuminated by a single lamp. There are two upper-storey windows at the upper centre, and two windows and a doorway in the building at right. All the essential elements of the composition have been lightly, but clearly, burnished in.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• II. 2nd state of 13

  Light burnishing has been applied to clarify many areas of the plate, most prominently the wall to the right of the opening, and the ground beneath the lamp, both of which areas are now lighter.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-2’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• III. 3rd state of 13

  

  The lightly burnished areas have been further lightened by burnishing, and an illuminated area now appears on the ceiling near the lamp. A vertical strip of light appears in the centre of the upper right window. The area above the doorway of the building at right has been burnished to show light cast through the window.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-3’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• IV. 4th state of 13

  The ground in the centre of the courtyard has been burnished delicately to suggest reflected light from the lamp. The strip of light in the upper right window has been enlarged.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-4’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• V. 5th state of 13

  The lower right rim of the circular window at left has been burnished. The lamplight in the distance has been enlarged. A small area of roulette work now darkens the lower right corner of the doorway at left, and a smaller patch has also been applied to the opposite corner of the wall.

  Unevenly printed impression on wove Fabriano paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-5’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. This impression is foxed in the upper margin.

• VI. 6th state of 13

  

  Fine vertical lines of etching have been applied to the light area to the right of the passageway. The circular window at the centre left has been further burnished.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-6’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

   

• VII. 7th state of 13

  

  The squarish area of roulette work at the lower right of the doorway at left has been burnished to contain it within the shadows of the doorway.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-7’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

   

• VIII. 8th state of 13

  Broken, horizontal etched lines have been added to the front of the building at the left of the lamp-lit opening, and to the ground and the buildings at right. Lines of broken vertical shading have been added to the wall to the right of the lamp. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-8’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.
  2. Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-9’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-9’, this is an impression of the eighth state.
  3. Dark, selectively wiped impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-10’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-10’, this is an impression of the eighth state. In this impression, the doorway at right has the appearance of extending towards the plate mark.

• VIII.b. 8th state of 13

  

  Broken, horizontal etched lines have been added to the front of the building at the left of the lamp-lit opening, and to the ground and the buildings at right. Lines of broken vertical shading have been added to the wall to the right of the lamp. There are three variant impressions of this state.

• IX. 9th state of 13

  The reflection of light from the lamp has been extended with burnishing.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-11’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-11’, this is the ninth state.

• X. 10th state of 13

  The left edge of the doorstep at right has been strengthened with etching. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-12’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-12’, this is an impression of the tenth state.
  2. Selectively wiped impression with plate tone, on wove Hahnemühle paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-12’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘2-12’, this is an impression of the tenth state.

• X.a. 10th state of 13

  

  The left edge of the doorstep at right has been strengthened with etching. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• XI. 11th state of 13

  

  A new layer of aquatint has been added to the plate; this was done at the artist’s direction by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop. It covers the far wall, except for the two window frames and the strip of window light, the area beyond the lamplight, the door on the left and the window on the right. The aquatint tone prints a stark black against the remaining grey of the plate.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-13’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-13’, this is the eleventh state.

• XII. 12th state of 13

  

  The plate has undergone significant burnishing in order to tonally integrate the newly applied aquatint with the earlier work on the plate. Some shading with roulette has been added to the right of the strip of light in the upper right window and in the shadow between the two buildings at right.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-14’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-14’, this is the twelfth state.

• XIII. 13th and final state

  

  The two windows on the back wall have disappeared, leaving only a vertical strip of light at the upper right. A small area of parallel vertical hatching has been applied to the bottom left of the dark doorway at left, and vertical hatching has been added to the wall beside the lamp. The ambiguous area between the two buildings at right has been darkened with drypoint, and the wall to the right of the window nearest the opening has been burnished, making it read more coherently.

  Impression on wove Hahnemühle paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-14’; lower centre: ‘Street at Night Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘2-14’, this is the thirteenth and final state.

• Edition, 2007

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Velin Arches paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), between June and December 2007. The edition included a bon à tirer impression, an artist’s proof, two APW workshop proofs, and a presentation proof. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Street at Night, Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Chop mark embossed in lower right corner: ‘APW [within a horizontal rectangle]’.

  Edition sheet size: 280 x 380 mm

• Edition impression, 2007 (Featured Image)

  

• Comment

  This etching, the first that Amor made in Venice in 2007, is based closely on a pencil drawing, dated 4 June 2007, in the artist’s large Venice Sketchbook. Both etching and drawing are oriented in the same direction.

  The location depicted in E.147 is the same courtyard as appears in Woman pissing, Venice (cat. no. E.145), but seen from the opposite direction. While the drawing on which the present etching is based is a daytime view, the print was always conceived as a night scene. It began on the plate as an even layer of prepared aquatint, which was then worked with a burnisher from dark to light, as though it were a mezzotint.

  The etching was subsequently used as the modello for a large charcoal drawing, dated 24 April 2008 (Niagara Galleries 2009).