Rick Amor

An Online Catalogue Raisonné of the Prints by Irena Zdanowicz

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The sighting 1991

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II. 2nd state of 9

IX. 9th and final state (Featured Image)

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E.041 The sighting 1991

  • I. 1st state of 9

    Mezzotint. A night-time scene of a stormy sea with a promontory at right, on which stands a windswept tree. To the right of the tree is a car, and in the sea at left is the faint outline of an emerging, writhing sea creature. The entire image is indistinct.

    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: ‘Sighting’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • II. 2nd state of 9

    The car’s headlights now appear, illuminating the contour of the hill. The waves in the foreground are more distinct, as are the irregular horizon, the squid’s raised tentacle, and the windswept tree. The impression appears dry, especially in the lower left area.

    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: ‘Sighting’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • III. 3rd state of 9

    Tonal gradations have been burnished in, so as to sharpen the transitions from dark to light. The sky at the upper left remains indistinct.

    Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Sighting’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • IV. 4th state of 9

    An irregular curved area of light has been burnished above the horizon, and the gradations of light have been made smoother.

    Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Sighting’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • V. 5th state of 9

    The light areas have been burnished further to intensify their brightness. The area illuminated by the headlights of the car has been extended.

    Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Sighting’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • VI. 6th state of 9

    More burnishing has been applied to the clouds.

    Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Sighting’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • VII. 7th state of 9

    Burnishing has been applied to the highlights on the waves, and around the rocks in the lower right corner.

    Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘7 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Sighting’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • VIII. 8th state of 9

    The clouds at the upper centre have been burnished so as to create a greater sense of volume.

    Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘8 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Sighting’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • IX. 9th and final state (Featured Image)

    The squid’s raised tentacle and the area immediately below have been further burnished to make the tentacle stand out with greater clarity.

    Impression on wove Arches paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘9 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Sighting’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

  • Edition, 1991

    Nominal edition of ten, but only six impressions were printed and numbered. These are on wove Arches paper and were printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. The edition included three artist’s proofs, with one of these hand-coloured with watercolour by the artist. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 6]/10’; lower centre: ‘The Sighting’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

    Edition sheet size: 380 x 285 mm

  • Comment

    This mezzotint is based closely on a small oil painting of the same title, dated 1992 and April 1991 (Menzies 2015), but is oriented in the reverse direction. Compositionally, the one significant difference between the two works is in the depiction of the squid, whose tentacles remain coiled in the painting but have begun to unfurl in the print. The entire scene is imagined.

    The giant squid first appeared in Amor’s prints in 1989, initially in The sea (with giant squid) (cat. no. E.012) and then in The sea (cat. no. E.015). Both of these etchings have a mythic, timeless quality, since they contain no details that might anchor them in an identifiable moment in time. By contrast, in The sighting, the mythic scene is disturbed by the intrusion of the car, and with it a modern, albeit unfathomable, narrative; hence the strange, unsettling nature of the image.

    The nocturnal subject matter of E.041 is perfectly matched to the mezzotint technique. Amor took this print through nine states, adjusting the plate in small increments with the burnisher, in order to elicit the precise tones and effects of light that he wanted.

    Although all the state impressions are inscribed with the title ‘Sighting’, the edition impressions are inscribed ‘The Sighting’, and this latter title has therefore been accepted as the correct title for the work.

The car’s headlights now appear, illuminating the contour of the hill. The waves in the foreground are more distinct, as are the irregular horizon, the squid’s raised tentacle, and the windswept tree. The impression appears dry, especially in the lower left area.

The squid’s raised tentacle and the area immediately below have been further burnished to make the tentacle stand out with greater clarity.

Catalogue Number
E.041
Title and Date
The sighting 1991
Description of Featured Image
A night-time scene of a stormy sea with a promontory at right, on which stands a windswept tree. To the right of the tree is a car, its headlights illuminating the sea and the giant squid that emerges, writhing, at the left.
Where Made
Dunmoochin, Cottles Bridge
Medium Category and Technique
Intaglio Print: Mezzotint on copper
Support
Wove paper. Identified papers: Arches paper with watermark: ‘ARCHES / FRANCE’ with infinity symbol.
Dimensions
Image size: 65 x 105 mm
Matrix size: 70 x 108 mm
Artist’s Record Number
RAE.37
Printer(s) and Workshop(s)
All impressions printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio, Cottles Bridge.
Summary Edition Information
Nine states. Nominal edition of ten, but only six impressions printed and numbered, 1991.
Exhibitions
Niagara Galleries & NETS Victoria 1993–94: Niagara Galleries & NETS Victoria, Melbourne, Rick Amor & the Graphic Arts, Victorian and Tasmanian tour, 1993–94, no. 42, as Sighting.
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. 26.
Heide MoMA 2008: Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen (Melbourne), Rick Amor: A Single Mind, 22 March – 13 July 2008, no. 9 (Prints), hand-coloured AP, as The sighting.
Literature
For the painting The sighting, 1991–92, see Menzies Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers, Melbourne sale, 25 June 2015, lot 18. See also http://www.menziesartbrands.com/items/sighting.
Collections
State Library of Victoria, Melbourne: nine state impressions, numbered 1 through 9.
British Museum, London: ed. 2/10 (2006,0730.27).
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra: ed. 6/10 (2007.72).
Comment

This mezzotint is based closely on a small oil painting of the same title, dated 1992 and April 1991 (Menzies 2015), but is oriented in the reverse direction. Compositionally, the one significant difference between the two works is in the depiction of the squid, whose tentacles remain coiled in the painting but have begun to unfurl in the print. The entire scene is imagined.

The giant squid first appeared in Amor’s prints in 1989, initially in The sea (with giant squid) (cat. no. E.012) and then in The sea (cat. no. E.015). Both of these etchings have a mythic, timeless quality, since they contain no details that might anchor them in an identifiable moment in time. By contrast, in The sighting, the mythic scene is disturbed by the intrusion of the car, and with it a modern, albeit unfathomable, narrative; hence the strange, unsettling nature of the image.

The nocturnal subject matter of E.041 is perfectly matched to the mezzotint technique. Amor took this print through nine states, adjusting the plate in small increments with the burnisher, in order to elicit the precise tones and effects of light that he wanted.

Although all the state impressions are inscribed with the title ‘Sighting’, the edition impressions are inscribed ‘The Sighting’, and this latter title has therefore been accepted as the correct title for the work.

Keywords
Car, Sea, Squid, Stormy sea
URL
https://catalogue.rickamor.com.au/works/intaglio/the-sighting/

Record last updated 15/02/2021
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