E.042 The river at Burnley 1991

• I. 1st state of 3

  

  Etching. Spanning a river is a low, slightly arching bridge supported by three pillars. Behind it are electricity pylons and cables, as well as industrial cranes, and, in the centre, two large bare shrubs. The composition is complete in this the first state.

  Impression on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The River at Burnley’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

• II. 2nd state of 3

  The plate has been re-etched and the lines are now thicker. Oblique hatching has been added below the clouds at the upper left and below the bridge, at the lower left. The pillars supporting the bridge have been hatched with drypoint and are now darker.

  Impression on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The River at Burnley’; lower right: ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• III. 3rd and final state

  The black rectangle below the bridge, at the left, and the immediately surrounding area have been lightly burnished. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘Bon à tirer’; lower centre: ‘The River at Burnley’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’. Although inscribed ‘Bon à tirer’, this is an impression of the third and final state. (Featured Image)
  2. Cleanly wiped impression on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP I’; lower centre: ‘The River at Burnley’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.
  3. Impression with light plate tone, on wove Arches paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP II’; lower centre: ‘The River at Burnley’; lower right: ‘Rick Amor 91’.

• III.a. 3rd and final state (Featured Image)

  

  The black rectangle below the bridge, at the left, and the immediately surrounding area have been lightly burnished. There are three variant impressions of this state.

• No edition

• Comment

  This etching is based on a pencil drawing, dated 5 April 1991, made on site, by the Yarra River at Burnley, an industrial inner suburb of Melbourne; however, the print is oriented in the reverse direction.

  The subject of E.042 was essentially complete in the first state. Amor re-etched the plate in the second state, to create a stronger image, and added drypoint to the bridge’s pillars so as to introduce a greater tonal balance between the upper and lower halves of the composition. In the third and final state, he fine-tuned the tonal balance by burnishing an area at the lower left of the image.