E.019 The city, 6 am 1990; reworked 1998

• I. 1st state of 9, 1990

  

  Etching. A night-time scene in a city street bounded by nineteenth-century buildings, with a large, pruned plane tree to the right of centre. A window at the centre left margin is illuminated by a lamp with four globes. Outside the window, in the mid left distance, are two figures: the striding figure of a young girl, and a second person, masculine in appearance, who walks vigorously behind her, holding her outstretched hand. The subject is lightly etched, with a mesh of cross-hatching in most of the areas that are in shadow.

  Impression with faint but even plate tone in the lower half of the sheet, on wove Fabriano 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 90’.

• II. 2nd state of 9, 1990

  Etching has been used to more clearly define the masonry.

  Dark impression with plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘A/P’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’.

• III. 3rd state of 9, 1990

  

  The masonry has been further defined with etching, and much of the ground has been covered with horizontal strokes. The lamp in the long window at left radiates now from six circular globes.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark, 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 ’90’. Although inscribed ‘5’, this is the third state.

• IV. 4th state of 9, 1990

  The upper contour of the girl’s hair has been defined with a sharp stroke of the burin.

  Impression on Fabriano paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’. Although inscribed ‘6’, this is the fourth state.

• V. 5th state of 9, 1990

  

  The illuminated areas of the masonry have been dimmed by means of parallel horizontal hatching, while the ground surrounding the two figures has been darkened with loose horizontal lines.

  Impression on BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘7 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated: ‘Rick Amor 90’. Although inscribed ‘7’, this is the fifth state.

• VI. 6th state of 9, 1990

  The ground to the right of the tree has been burnished. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on cream wove Saunders paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘8 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 90’. Although inscribed ‘8’, this is an impression of the sixth state. 
  2. Impression on cream wove Saunders paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘10 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’. Although inscribed ‘10’, this is an impression of the sixth state. 

• VII. 7th state of 9, 1990

  Several strands have been added to the girl’s hair, and loose etching to the modelling of both figures. The ground has been covered with additional horizontal etched strokes. The left half of the tree trunk, and the shadow it casts, have been re-etched and are darker. The previously lighter areas of the masonry are now shrouded in a mesh of cross-hatching. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘13 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’. Although inscribed ‘13’, this is an impression of the seventh state. 
  2. Darker impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘14 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’. Although inscribed ‘14’, this is an impression of the seventh state. 

• VIII. 8th state of 9, 1990

  The area below the lamp in the window has been burnished. According to Amor’s intaglio record books, drypoint has also been added to the plate, though it is not clear where. There are four variant impressions of this state, two dated 1990 and two dated 1995.

  1. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘A/P’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’.
  2. Impression with plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘A/P’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’.
  3. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP I’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’95’.
  4. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP II’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’95’. (Featured Image)

• VIII.d. Artist’s proof of 8th state of 9, 1990, printed 1995 (Featured Image)

  

  The area below the lamp in the window has been burnished. According to Amor’s intaglio record books, drypoint has also been added to the plate, though it is not clear where. There are four variant impressions of this state, two dated 1990 and two dated 1995.

• Edition, 1990

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Stonehenge and Fabriano papers (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. The record books also suggest that the edition included an impression numbered ‘1/1’, which Amor thinks might have been distinguished by its unusual inking, but this impression has not been sighted and its whereabouts are unknown.

  Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’.

• IX. 9th and final state, 1998

  A burin has been used to straighten the slightly tilting vertical edge of the stepped architectural details at the right.

  Dark, heavily inked impression, wiped cleanly only in area of lights in window, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP III’; lower centre: ‘The City 6am’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 90–98’.

• Comment

  This etching belongs to a group of loosely related works depicting inner-city streets in which there are large, bare plane trees. Most of these views are nocturnal or set in the early morning, and their atmosphere is distinctly uneasy. The setting in E.019 is imagined, although the architecture is roughly based on that of Victoria’s Parliament House (built 1855–56), Melbourne.

  Amor has said that the subject of this work occurred to him as the result of a vivid early-morning dream, and he has identified the two figures in the etching as a former girlfriend, Genny, and her young daughter. Genny was a long-legged gymnast, with hair cropped short, who often wore sports clothes; she is portrayed by the artist in a woodcut from 1984, titled Genny. However, despite Amor’s identification of the taller figure in E.019 as Genny, the figure has a decidedly masculine appearance, and this, given that the adult in the image looks to be tugging on the hand of the young girl, provides the scene with a sinister inflection. The atmosphere of disquiet in this print is heightened in an etched version of the subject that was made in 1990, but was begun slightly later than E.019: The city, 1990 (cat. no. E.023).