Etching. View of an overpass that spans an area of unfinished road; in the foreground is builders’ rubble, in the midst of which stand two figures talking, behind a car. At the lower left is a concrete block from which emerge two metal trusses, forming a large V-shape. Beyond the overpass stands a tall Victorian building. A truck traverses the overpass from the right, its diesel chimney emitting smoke. To the left of the diesel chimney is a light pole. To the left of this is a truck’s exhaust pipe, thin and with an angled spout; it too releases smoke. The unmade road curves into the lower right corner. Foul biting is evident in many areas, especially in the lower part of the image and in the sky. There are two variant impressions of this state.
The horizontally ridged tanks below the bridge have been burnished, so that they now appear more rounded; burnishing has also been applied to the middle band of the overpass. There are five variant impressions of this state.
- Catalogue Number
- E.106
- Title and Date
- Overpass 1996
- Description of Featured Image
- View of an overpass that spans an area of unfinished road; in the foreground is builders’ rubble, in the midst of which stand two figures talking, behind a car. At the lower left is a concrete block from which emerge two metal trusses, forming a large V-shape. Beyond the overpass stands a tall Victorian building. A truck traverses the overpass from the right, its diesel chimney emitting smoke. To the left of the diesel chimney is a light pole. To the left of this is another, thin, truck’s exhaust pipe. The unmade road curves into the lower right corner.
- Where Made
- Alphington, Melbourne
- Medium Category and Technique
- Intaglio Print: Etching, foul biting and burnishing on copper
- Support
- Wove paper. Identified papers: BFK Rives paper with watermark: ‘BFK RIVES / FRANCE’ with infinity symbol.
- Dimensions
-
Image size: 230 x 307 mm
Matrix size: 230 x 310 mm - Artist’s Record Number
- RAE.113
- Printer(s) and Workshop(s)
- All impressions printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio.
- Summary Edition Information
- Three states. Nominal edition of ten, but only four impressions printed and numbered, 1996.
- Exhibitions
- 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. 6.
- Niagara Galleries 1998: Niagara Galleries, Richmond (Melbourne), Rick Amor, 22 September – 17 October 1998, no. 33, ed. 4/10.
- Literature
- For illustrations of two works closely related to E.106, see Niagara Galleries, Rick Amor (exh. cat.), Niagara Galleries, Richmond, Victoria, 1996, cat. no. 9 (Study for ‘Overpass’, 1995, watercolour), and cat. no. 13 (Study for ‘Overpass’, 1995, oil on canvas).
- Collections
- State Library of Victoria, Melbourne: one state impression, numbered 1; AP III/V.
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide: ed. 1/10, mistakenly dated 1991 by the artist (20155G142).
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne: ed. 3/10, with plate tone (2012.410).
- Comment
This etching belongs to a group of closely related works dating from 1995 to 1998. The earliest of these is a watercolour painted in August 1995, Study for ‘Overpass’ (Niagara Galleries 1996), which differs from the etching in depicting in the distance not a nineteenth-century facade but a flat-topped building. The change to the building in the background was initiated in an oil, Study for ‘Overpass’, 1995 (Niagara Galleries 1996), in which the facade is based on that of the old Victoria Brewery, East Melbourne (built 1882). E.106 closely follows the painted study and is oriented in the same direction.
The print was essentially completed in its first state, although the removal of the angled, smoking spout, which was burnished away in the second state, was a small but important change. The third and final state saw refinements of tone. The existence of five variant impressions of this state testifies to Amor’s ongoing interest in experimenting with plate tone and he continued to do this when printing the edition impressions.
- Keywords
- City, Overpass, Roadworks, Truck
- URL
- https://catalogue.rickamor.com.au/works/intaglio/the-overpass/
Record last updated 16/02/2021