Rick Amor

An Online Catalogue Raisonné of the Prints by Irena Zdanowicz

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  • The ship

The ship 2003

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Artist’s proof (from ‘light’ edition, 2003) (Featured Image)

Artist’s proof (from ‘dark’ edition, 2003)

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E.129 The ship 2003

  • I. 1st and only state

    Etching and burnishing. The prow of a huge container ship towers over an enclosed derelict site, blocked in the centre by a wall with four arches. The subject is lightly etched. There are six variant impressions of this state.

    1. Cleanly wiped impression on wove Hahnemühle paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower centre: ‘The Ship’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 03’.
    2. Dark impression with plate tone, on wove Hahnemühle paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-1’; lower centre: ‘The Ship’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 03’.
    3. Cleanly wiped impression on wove Hahnemühle paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3-1’; lower centre: ‘The Ship’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 03’.
    4. Cleanly wiped impression on wove Hahnemühle paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP’; lower centre: ‘The Ship’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 03’.
    5. Dark, selectively wiped impression on wove Hahnemühle paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘Bon à tirer’; lower centre: ‘The Ship’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 03’.
    6. Dark, selectively wiped impression on wove Velin Arches paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP 1/1’; lower centre: ‘The Ship’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 03’. APW chop mark in lower right corner.
  • Two editions, 2003

    Two editions were printed on Velin Arches paper in December 2003 by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne). One is an edition of ten cleanly wiped, numbered impressions, dubbed ‘light’; the other is an edition of ten numbered impressions that is uniformly printed with plate tone, dubbed ‘dark’. Each edition included a bon à tirer impression, one artist’s proof and two APW workshop proofs. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘The Ship’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’03’. Chop mark in lower right corner: ‘APW [within rectangle]’.

  • Artist’s proof (from ‘light’ edition, 2003) (Featured Image)

    Etching and burnishing. The prow of a huge container ship towers over an enclosed derelict site, blocked in the centre by a wall with four arches. The subject is lightly etched.

  • Artist’s proof (from ‘dark’ edition, 2003)

  • Comment

    The composition in this etching is based on that in the watercolour Study for ‘The ship’, dated 19 May 2003 (Fry 2008), and is oriented in the same direction. The view depicted is clearly a composite, incorporating several distinct elements: the wasteland in the foreground; the ruined or unfinished building with its series of arches (echoes of a Roman aqueduct); and the ship, its prow pressed improbably close to the architecture. The print disconcerts, with its play on size and scale and its knowing reference to antiquity.

    Unusually for Amor, this work exists in just one state, although the edition exists in two distinct versions: one cleanly wiped and light, the other uniformly darkened with plate tone. The numerous variant impressions of the only state serve to document the process of experimentation that led Amor to the decision to edition the plate in two different ways.

    A later version of the subject was painted in 2006 (Fry 2008).

Etching and burnishing. The prow of a huge container ship towers over an enclosed derelict site, blocked in the centre by a wall with four arches. The subject is lightly etched.

Catalogue Number
E.129
Title and Date
The ship 2003
Description of Featured Image
The prow of a huge container ship towers over an enclosed derelict site, blocked in the centre by a wall with four arches.
Where Made
Alphington, Melbourne
Medium Category and Technique
Intaglio Print: Etching and burnishing on copper
Support
Wove paper. Identified papers: Hahnemühle paper with watermark: ‘HAHNEMÜHLE’; Velin Arches paper.
Dimensions
Image size: 299 x 378 mm
Matrix size: 301 x 379 mm
Artist’s Record Number
RAE.154
Printer(s) and Workshop(s)
All state impressions printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. First and second editions printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne).
Summary Edition Information
One state. Two editions. First edition: edition of ten numbered impressions, 2003 (‘light’ edition). Second edition: edition of ten numbered impressions, 2003 (‘dark’ edition).
Exhibitions
Niagara Galleries 2004: Niagara Galleries, Richmond (Melbourne), Rick Amor, 31 August – 25 September 2004, no. 6 (‘dark’ edition).
Australian Print Workshop 2014: Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), APW George Collie Memorial Award Exhibition: Rick Amor + Noel Counihan, 30 August – 4 October 2014, no. 9.
University of Melbourne 2014: Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Parkville (Melbourne), The Piranesi Effect, 20 February – 25 May 2014, no. 40.
Literature
Gavin Fry, Rick Amor, Beagle Press, Roseville, NSW, 2008, p. 146, ed. 9/10 (‘light’ edition illus.). For an illustration of the watercolour Study for ‘The ship’, 2003, see also p. 146; for an illustration of the painting The ship, 2006, see p. 170.
Collections
State Library of Victoria, Melbourne: three state impressions, numbered 1-1 through 3-1; bon à tirer impression; AP, AP 1/1.
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide: ed. 2/10 (first (‘light’) edition) (20155G149).
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne: AP 1/1 (first (‘light’) edition) (2012.418).
Comment

The composition in this etching is based on that in the watercolour Study for ‘The ship’, dated 19 May 2003 (Fry 2008), and is oriented in the same direction. The view depicted is clearly a composite, incorporating several distinct elements: the wasteland in the foreground; the ruined or unfinished building with its series of arches (echoes of a Roman aqueduct); and the ship, its prow pressed improbably close to the architecture. The print disconcerts, with its play on size and scale and its knowing reference to antiquity.

Unusually for Amor, this work exists in just one state, although the edition exists in two distinct versions: one cleanly wiped and light, the other uniformly darkened with plate tone. The numerous variant impressions of the only state serve to document the process of experimentation that led Amor to the decision to edition the plate in two different ways.

A later version of the subject was painted in 2006 (Fry 2008).

Keywords
Ship
URL
https://catalogue.rickamor.com.au/works/intaglio/the-ship/

Record last updated 16/02/2021
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