E.056 The boat 1991

• I. 1st state of 6, 1991

  Etching. View of a river at its entrance to the sea, with banks on either side. In the foreground at right is a sea wall with a man leaning against it; to his left are three mooring poles. At the lower left, in the river, is a canopied boat with a hooded boatman. On the far shore are two large breakwaters. The subject is lightly etched.

  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 right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• II. 2nd state of 6, 1991

  

  Foul biting has appeared in the sky and has been incorporated into the clouds.

  Impression on buff wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• III. 3rd state of 6, 1991

  

  The upper area of the sky has been cross-hatched and is now darker. The shadowed areas have been strengthened.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• IV. 4th state of 6, 1991

  The sky has been further darkened with cross-hatching. The scene now has the appearance of a nocturnal one.

  Dark impression with plate tone, on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• V. 5th state of 6, 1991

  

  An area of light has been burnished into the sky at the right edge, and highlights have also been burnished around the right shoulder of the standing figure so as to make it stand out more clearly.

  Impression on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• VI. 6th and final state, 1991

  The right half of the sky has been burnished. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Dark impression with plate tone, on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.
  2. Cleanly wiped impression on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP I’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor ’91’.

• VI.a. 6th and final state, 1991

  

  The right half of the sky has been burnished. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• Edition, 2002

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Doug Hails at the Baldessin Press, St Andrews. The edition included a bon à tirer impression, an artist’s proof (AP II) and a printer’s proof. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘The Boat’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor ’91’.

  Edition sheet size: 269 x 269 mm (variable)

  Although the edition was printed in 2002, Amor dated its impressions to 1991, this being the year in which he completed work on all states of this print.

• Bon à tirer impression, dated 1991 (edition, 2002; impression of 6th and final state) (Featured Image)

  

• Comment

  This etching depicts the mouth of Kananook Creek, just out of sight of Port Phillip Bay at Frankston. E.056 is one of several closely related works, based on memories of his youth, that Amor painted, etched and cut in wood during the 1990s. All of these representations are suffused with a mythical quality, whereby the little Kananook Creek expands in narrative significance, taking on the mantle of the River Styx. Like its closest predecessor among the etchings, Out to sea, 1991 (cat. no. E.036), this work includes a canopied boat in which there is a hooded boatman, although here the boat is returning from the sea, not setting out. The solitary observer who leans against the wall at right does not appear in the earlier etching, but occurs again in the painting titled The boat, made in 1992 (Fry 2008).

  In developing the image in E.056, Amor established the essential details of the composition in the first state, and then continued to work on the plate tonally. When inadvertent foul biting appeared in the second state, he managed to utilize it by incorporating it into the darkening sky. Through the following four states, he proceeded to regulate the tonal aspects of the print, using both the etching needle and the burnisher.

  Although he finished etching the plate in 1991, he did not edition it then. Instead, he set it aside for a decade, until 2002, when he asked Doug Hails to print an edition. Amor retained 1991 as the primary year of creation, however, and inscribed that date on all edition impressions.