E.039 Woman asleep 1991; reworked and retitled 2002

• I. 1st state of 5, 1991

  

  Drypoint. The head and upper torso of a sleeping woman, propped up on pillows. Her torso is bare and her head is turned in right profile. Around her neck is a string of beads. The subject has been summarily drawn on the plate with drypoint.

  Impression on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Woman Asleep’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• II. 2nd state of 5, 1991

  More drypoint has been added, especially in the background but also in the lower left and right corners.

  Impression on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Woman Asleep’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• III. 3rd state of 5, 1991

  The woman’s upper lip has been darkened with drypoint, and drypoint hatching has been added to the area around her face in order to cast into greater relief the open-mouthed profile. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Woman Asleep’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’. (Featured Image)
  2. Dark impression with plate tone, on cream wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Woman Asleep’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’. Although inscribed ‘4’, this is an impression of the third state.

• III.a. 3rd state of 5, 1991 (Featured Image)

  

  The woman’s upper lip has been darkened with drypoint, and drypoint hatching has been added to the area around her face in order to cast into greater relief the open-mouthed profile. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• IV. 4th state of 5 (2002), as Sleeping woman

  

  The work has been retitled Sleeping woman. More drypoint has been added throughout the background at left and right. Strands of hair have been added to the nape of the neck and to other places on the head, and long oblique hatching has been added to both arms.

  Impression on wove Magnani paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower centre: ‘Sleeping Woman’; lower right: signed ‘R. Amor’. Not dated.

• V. 5th and final state, 2002, as Sleeping woman

  More drypoint work has been done on the hair at the nape of the neck, as well as at the back of the head and beside the ear. The torso has been modelled with additional drypoint hatching, and drypoint has also been added to the beads in order to make them stand out more clearly. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression with rich burr, on wove Magnani paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-2’; lower centre: ‘Sleeping Woman’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 02’.
  2. Cleanly wiped, dry 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: ‘Sleeping Woman’; lower right: signed ‘R. Amor’. Not dated.

• V.b. Artist’s proof of 5th and final state (2002), as Sleeping woman

  

  More drypoint work has been done on the hair at the nape of the neck, as well as at the back of the head and beside the ear. The torso has been modelled with additional drypoint hatching, and drypoint has also been added to the beads in order to make them stand out more clearly. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• No edition

• Comment

  This drypoint is based closely on an undated pencil sketch that Amor drew of his partner, the artist Meg Williams, in a sketchbook of 1988–89. The drawing is one of four that Amor made at around this time, and that he subsequently used as compositional sources for three prints that depict Williams sleeping (see also cat. nos E.022 and E.046).

  The first state of the drypoint has all the linear spontaneity of the drawing; the composition is then elaborated tonally through the following four states, and through experiments in wiping the plate.

  Despite the fact that eleven years elapsed between the first three states (made in 1991) and the last two (made in 2002), this print – retitled as Sleeping woman in 2002 – retained a freshness to the end. This is in part because the drypoint technique lends itself so inherently to pictorial purposes, and in part because of the manner in which Amor has used it here for its sensuous qualities.