I. 1st state of 4
IV.a. 4th and final state, on buff paper (Featured Image)
IV.a. 4th and final state, on buff paper (Featured Image)
E.023 The city 1990
I. 1st state of 4
Etching. A night-time scene in a city street surrounded by nineteenth-century buildings, with stone steps at the right and three pruned plane trees on the central verge. A decorative iron street lamp is attached to the building at left, and lights glow in a window in the far distance. In front of the distant building is the small figure of a young girl; behind her is an older, taller person. The subject has been etched to an advanced stage of completion, but remains tonally light.
Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The City’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’90’.
IV.a. 4th and final state, on buff paper (Featured Image)
The triangular shadow at the base of the building nearest the figure of the girl has been lightened by burnishing. There are three variant impressions of this state, including a maculature.
Etching. A night-time scene in a city street surrounded by nineteenth-century buildings, with stone steps at the right and three pruned plane trees on the central verge. A decorative iron street lamp is attached to the building at left, and lights glow in a window in the far distance. In front of the distant building is the small figure of a young girl; behind her is an older, taller person. The subject has been etched to an advanced stage of completion, but remains tonally light.
The triangular shadow at the base of the building nearest the figure of the girl has been lightened by burnishing. There are three variant impressions of this state, including a maculature.
- Catalogue Number
- E.023
- Title and Date
- The city 1990
- Description of Featured Image
- A night-time scene in a city street surrounded by nineteenth-century buildings, with stone steps at the right and three pruned plane trees on the central verge. A decorative iron street lamp is attached to the building at left, and lights glow in a window in the far distance. In front of the distant building is the small figure of a young girl, with a striding figure in trousers behind her. Although inscribed ‘5’, this is actually an impression of the fourth and final state of this print.
- Where Made
- Dunmoochin, Cottles Bridge
- Medium Category and Technique
- Intaglio Print: Etching and burnishing on copper
- Support
- Wove paper. Identified papers: Papers mentioned in notes on this work in Amor’s intaglio record books: buff and cream BFK Rives papers, white Stonehenge paper and white Fabriano paper.
- Dimensions
-
Image size: 154 x 205 mm
Matrix size: 155 x 205 mm - Artist’s Record Number
- RAE.19
- Printer(s) and Workshop(s)
- All impressions printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio, Cottles Bridge.
- Summary Edition Information
- Four states. Edition of ten numbered impressions, 1990.
- Exhibitions
- Niagara Galleries 1990: Niagara Galleries, Richmond (Melbourne), Rick Amor, opened 19 June 1990 [closing date not recorded], no. 16, ed. 1/10.
- Niagara Galleries & NETS Victoria 1993–94: Niagara Galleries & NETS Victoria, Melbourne, Rick Amor & the Graphic Arts, Victorian and Tasmanian tour, 1993–94, no. 23.
- Niagara Galleries at IWOP 1997: Niagara Galleries at the International Works on Paper Fair, Mitchell Galleries, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, 17–20 July 1997, no. 8, ed. 8/10.
- Literature
- Gary Catalano, Rick Amor & the Graphic Arts (exh. cat.), Niagara Galleries & NETS Victoria, Melbourne, 1993, cat. no. 23, illus. p. 21 (but as cat. no. 22).
- Collections
- State Library of Victoria, Melbourne: six state impressions, numbered 1 through 6; one undesignated state impression (maculature).
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide: ed. 10/10 (20155G135).
- Comment
The subject of E.023 is closely related to that of an etching begun earlier in the same year, The city, 6 am (cat. no. E.019), its architectural features reconstituted or changed, but still recognizable. In place of the single tree at the centre of the earlier etching, there is now a deeply receding row of three trees, the one furthest away having three sharp, claw-like pruned branches, which introduce a note of incipient aggression. The two figures in both works have been identified by Amor as a former girlfriend, Genny, who was a gymnast, and her young daughter.
The composition of E.023 was largely resolved in the first state. However, the plate was re-etched in the third state, with the result that the image was rendered darker and more dramatic, with striking contrasts between light and dark.
A colour woodcut of the same title was made in 1991; however, that print shows a completely different composition.
For further discussion of the subject matter of E.023, see Comment in entry for cat. no. E.019.
- Keywords
- Landscape - urban, Melbourne
- URL
- https://catalogue.rickamor.com.au/works/intaglio/the-city/
Record last updated 09/02/2021