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Etching. A platform raised on tall wooden columns stands in the shallow waters of a river, near its mouth. At the left are steps with a metal railing, and on the right is a flat-topped building. In the distance are industrial cranes. Vapour trails from a passing aeroplane are visible in the sky at the upper right, while smoke billows from the tallest of three chimneys at the left. The subject has been lightly etched. There are two variant impressions of this state.
The columns of the central structure, together with the short side of its roof, have received additional hatching, so that the structure now has greater clarity. Several strokes of drypoint have been added to the rocks at right. There are two variant impressions of this state.
Drypoint has been added to the building at right. The impression has been extensively reworked in pen and indian ink.
Following the pen and ink amendments of the fourth state, many contours of individual compositional elements have been strengthened and clarified with etching and drypoint, but some of the proposed changes, including those to the steps in the lower left corner, and those to the sky, have not been carried. The clouds at the upper left have been partially burnished.
The plate has been extensively reworked in drypoint, following the pen and ink changes made in the fourth state. The building at the right now has a low addition, which juts out to the left. Vertical and oblique strokes, suggesting a rainstorm, have been added to the sky at the upper left. There are two variant impressions of this state.
- Catalogue Number
- E.084
- Title and Date
- Structure with vapour trails
1993; reworked 1995
- Description of Featured Image
- A platform raised on tall wooden columns stands in the shallow waters of a river, near its mouth. At the left are steps with a metal railing, and on the right is a flat-topped building. In the distance are industrial cranes. Vapour trails from a passing aeroplane are visible in the sky at the upper right, while smoke billows from the tallest of three chimneys in the left middle distance.
- Where Made
- Dunmoochin, Cottles Bridge. Alphington, Melbourne
- Medium Category and Technique
- Intaglio Print: Etching, drypoint and burnishing on copper
- Support
- Wove paper. Identified papers: Arches paper with watermark.
- Dimensions
-
Image size: 195 x 299 mm
Matrix size: 203 x 301 mm - Artist’s Record Number
- RAE.81 (1993), RAE.93 (1995)
- Printer(s) and Workshop(s)
- All impressions printed by Rick Amor. States I through V printed by Amor in his Dunmoochin studio, Cottles Bridge. State VI, and edition, printed in the Alphington studio.
- Summary Edition Information
- Six states. Nominal edition of ten, but only two impressions printed and numbered, 1995.
- Literature
- For an illustration of the charcoal drawing Structure under Westgate Bridge, 1994, see Niagara Galleries, Rick Amor Drawings (exh. cat.), Niagara Galleries, Richmond, Victoria, 1997, unpaginated.
- Collections
- State Library of Victoria, Melbourne: five state impressions, numbered 1 through 5, all dated 1993; ed. 2/10, dated 1995.
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra: ed. 1/10, dated 1995 (2007.703).
- Comment
This subject recurs, with variations, in several of Amor’s works, including a charcoal drawing from 1994, Structure under Westgate Bridge (Niagara Galleries 1997), and the etching Yarraville, 1994 (cat. no. E.089). The earliest version is a woodcut, Westgate, 1987, which is in reverse direction to E.084 and does not include the vapour trails.
While it is not absolutely topographically accurate, the view depicted in the etching shows the lower reaches of Melbourne’s Yarra River, near its mouth; in the distance at left is the suburb of Yarraville, its incinerator smoking. The flat-topped structure at the centre of the image is a remnant from the building of the West Gate Bridge, which was completed in 1978.
The charcoal drawing Structure under Westgate Bridge appears to have been made after Amor had completed work on his initial version of E.084, in 1993. It was the dark and moody tones of the drawing that in 1995 prompted the artist to return to the print. He then created a sixth and final state of this work, liberally adding drypoint throughout the plate as he carried changes he had proposed in 1993 by means of pen and ink amendments at the fourth state.
- Keywords
- Port, West Gate Bridge, Melbourne, Yarra River, Melbourne, Yarraville
- URL
- https://catalogue.rickamor.com.au/works/intaglio/structure-with-vapour-trail/
Record last updated 15/02/2021