E.117 Waiting by the sea 1998–99; titled The wait in 1998; retitled Waiting by the sea in 1999

• I. 1st state of 5, 1998, as The wait

  Etching. On a sandy beach, before a stormy sea, stands a tall wooden structure on whose upper platform is a figure leaning out to sea. Another figure, also turned seaward, stands on the sand beneath the structure. The image is complete, but lightly etched. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1/3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The Wait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’.
  2. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2/3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The Wait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’.
  3. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3/3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The Wait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’.

  These impressions are variably printed.

• I.a. 1st state of 5, 1998, as The wait

  

  Etching. On a sandy beach, before a stormy sea, stands a tall wooden structure on whose upper platform is a figure leaning out to sea. Another figure, also turned seaward, stands on the sand beneath the structure. The image is complete, but lightly etched. There are three variant impressions of this state.

• II. 2nd state of 5, 1998, as The wait

  An irregular band of light has been burnished into the sky, and some wispy etched strokes have been added there. There are four variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The Wait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’. Although inscribed ‘4’, this is an impression of the second state.
  2. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘5 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The Wait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’. Although inscribed ‘5’, this is an impression of the second state.
  3. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘6 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The Wait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’. Although inscribed ‘6’, this is an impression of the second state.
  4. Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘7 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘The Wait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’. Although inscribed ‘7’, this is an impression of the second state.

  These impressions are variably printed.

• II.c. 2nd state of 5, 1998, as The wait

  

  An irregular band of light has been burnished into the sky, and some wispy etched strokes have been added there. There are four variant impressions of this state.

• III. 3rd state of 5, 1998, as The wait

  A few more etched strokes have been added to the sky.

  Impression on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘8′ [circled]; lower centre: ‘The Wait’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’. Although inscribed ‘8’, this is the third state.

• IV. 4th state of 5, 1999, as Waiting by the sea

  More etching has been added to the sky to suggest dark, billowing clouds, and to the sea to make it darker and wilder-looking. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘9 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Waiting by the Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’. Although inscribed ‘9’, this is an impression of the fourth state.
  2. Dark impression with much 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: ‘10 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Waiting by the Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’. Although inscribed ‘10’, this is an impression of the fourth state.
  3. Selectively wiped impression on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘11 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Waiting by the Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’. Although inscribed ‘11’, this is an impression of the fourth state.

• V. 5th and final state, 1999, as Waiting by the sea

  Drypoint accents have been added to the three wooden posts in the sand, to the big wave and to the beams of the upper floor of the structure at right. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on wove Magnani paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP I’; lower centre: ‘Waiting by the Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’.
  2. Impression on wove Magnani paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP II’; lower centre: ‘Waiting by the Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 98’.

• V.a. Artist’s proof of 5th and final state, 1999, as Waiting by the sea (Featured Image)

  

  Drypoint accents have been added to the three wooden posts in the sand, to the big wave and to the beams of the upper floor of the structure at right. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• Edition, 1999

  Edition of ?ten numbered impressions, on a variety of wove papers, including Hahnemühle and Arches (both with watermarks), printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[1 through 9 or 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Waiting by the Sea’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor 99’.

  Edition sheet size: 398 x 268 mm

  Amor’s intaglio record books indicate that he printed only four impressions from a planned edition of ten, but this appears to be a mistake, since all impressions up to ed. 9/10 have been accounted for. Ed. 10/10 has not been sighted and might conceivably not have been printed.

• Comment

  This etching is closely based on an oil painting, Waiting by the sea, 1998–99, whose dimensions are approximately 1 x 2 metres (Lindsay 2005). In E.117, Amor set himself the challenge of translating a large composition to a miniature format, without losing the painting’s sense of drama, especially as evoked by the comparative scale of figures to setting. One concession he made to the small dimensions of the print was to limit the number of figures looking out from the wooden structure to one, in place of the two figures in the painting. The derelict wooden structure is imagined and resembles the structures that Amor finds himself crawling through in his dreams.

  The composition of E.117 was basically complete in the first state, whose three variant impressions show Amor to be experimenting, from the beginning, with plate tone. In the states that follow, he focused on tonal work in the sky and sea, first using a burnishing tool to add a stormy light, and then using etching to produce an inky darkness. Finally, in the fifth state, he added touches of deep black drypoint in order to underline the tonal contrasts and to heighten emotional tone.

  This is the last etching Amor began in 1998 and he continued working on it through the following year. All impressions of the work that were printed in 1998 are inscribed with the title ‘The Wait’, while those printed in 1999 are inscribed ‘Waiting by the Sea’. Amor’s intaglio record books, however, list only the latter title.