E.145 Woman pissing, Venice 2007; reworked 2010

• I. 1st state of 11, 2007

  

  Etching and burnishing. In a Venetian courtyard, to the left of a post-and-lintel passageway, a woman squats to urinate; beyond the passageway is a glimpse of a canal, and on the embankment opposite are a mooring post and a decorative railing. The image is rendered largely with etched cross-hatching; however, burnishing is evident at the far left of the composition and in the bottom member of the rectangular window above the lintel. Foul biting is apparent in the narrow un-etched band around the perimeter of the image.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• II. 2nd state of 11, 2007

  

  More etched hatching has been applied throughout the plate so as to better define the woman’s pose, the architectural volumes, and the space. A dark band of etched hatching now defines the lower edge of the lintel’s upper beam, causing it to appear to jut out. The lower part of the window frame is etched with vertical hatching, and two irregular dark patches mark the wall above the squatting woman.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark (‘[A]rtistico + Fabriano’), printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-2’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• III. 3rd state of 11, 2007

  

  The tonal balance of the print has been changed and it has been lightened overall through extensive burnishing. The two prominent dark patches above the woman have been completely burnished away.

  Impression on wove Fabriano paper with watermark (‘FA’ within a square), printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-3’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• IV. 4th state of 11, 2007

  

  Dark areas of drypoint and etched hatching have been added to the windows above and to the right of the post and lintel, as well as to areas beneath the arch and to the building on the opposite shore of the canal. The posts have been articulated with drypoint [etching?] emphases at their outer edge, and the woman’s hair and back have also been accented. A prominent accidental scratch appears at the lower edge, near the plate mark.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-4’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• V. 5th state of 11, 2007

  The scratch has been burnished away but no other changes have been made to the plate. There are four variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression with light plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-5’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. This impression has been squared for transfer, with pen and ink over pencil. The un-etched rectangular area on the opposite shore of the canal has been annotated in pencil with a large cross.
  2. Impression with light plate tone, on wove Hahnemühle paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-6’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-6’, this is an impression of the fifth state.
  3. Selectively wiped impression, with dark 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: ‘2-6’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘2-6’, this is an impression of the fifth state. The scene is now distinctly nocturnal.
  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: ‘3-6’; lower centre: ‘Woman Pissing, Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘3-6’, this is an impression of the fifth state. This is the most cleanly wiped of the four impressions of this state, but the dark tones remain rich.

• V.a. 5th state of 11, impression squared for transfer

  

  The scratch has been burnished away but no other changes have been made to the plate. There are four variant impressions of this state.

• First edition, 2007

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Velin Arches paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), December 2007. The edition included a bon à tirer impression, an artist’s proof, two APW workshop proofs, and a presentation proof. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Woman Pissing Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Chop mark embossed in lower right corner ‘APW [within horizontal rectangle]’.

  Edition sheet size: 280 x 380 mm

• Edition impression (first edition, 2007)

  

• VI. 6th state of 11, 2010

  

  The subject has been burnished and extensively redrawn with drypoint, which accents the essential elements of the architecture and other aspects of the composition, including the shadows. The light of a lamp has been introduced to the left wall of the passageway. Beyond the passageway a second fence, with a V-shaped design, has been added above the existing rail.

  Impression with light plate tone, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower centre: ‘Woman Pissing, Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’10’. Although inscribed ‘1-1’, this is the sixth state.

• VII. 7th state of 11, 2010

  

  Parallel horizontal hatching in drypoint has been added to the upper right corner. The vertical drypoint lines above the passageway lintel have been extended. Drypoint shading has been added above the lamp, and the woman’s hair has been completed.

  Impression with plate tone and rich burr, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-2’; lower centre: ‘Woman Pissing, Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’10’. Although inscribed ‘1-2’, this is the seventh state.

• VIII. 8th state of 11, 2010

  Drypoint contours have been added to the squatting woman’s arms to clarify their position. Her proper left shoulder is now in shadow.

  Impression with light plate tone, on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-3’; lower centre: ‘Woman Pissing, Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 10’. Although inscribed ‘1-3’, this is the eighth state.

• IX. 9th state of 11, 2010

  

  Several oblique strokes have been added to the woman’s buttocks and thigh.

  Cleanly wiped impression with prominent burr, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-4’; lower centre: ‘Woman Pissing, Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’10’. Although inscribed ‘1-4’, this is the ninth state.

• X. 10th state of 11, 2010

  

  The oblique hatching on the buttocks has been burnished away.

  Impression with plate tone, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-5’; lower centre: ‘Woman Pissing, Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 10’. Although inscribed ‘1-5’, this is the tenth state.

• XI. 11th and final state, 2010

  The woman’s proper right arm has been made thinner and the outline of her thigh has been articulated with drypoint.

  Impression with plate tone, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio or by Rosalind Atkins at Around the Bend Press (Murray Walker’s studio), Northcote (Melbourne). Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left corner: ‘RA’ [initials of Rosalind Atkins]; lower left: ‘1-6’; lower centre: ‘Woman Pissing, Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’10’. Although inscribed ‘1-6’, this is the eleventh and final state.

• Second edition, 2010

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at Around the Bend Press (Murray Walker’s studio), Northcote (Melbourne), 2010. The edition included a bon à tirer impression and an artist’s proof. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Woman Pissing Venice’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R. Amor ’10’.

  Edition sheet size: 280 x 380 mm

• Edition impression (second edition, 2010)

  

  The woman’s proper right arm has been made thinner and the outline of her thigh has been articulated with drypoint.

• Comment

  The scene depicted here was glimpsed one evening when Amor and a group of friends were out walking. Later, in his small Venice Sketchbook, Amor made a quick drawing from memory of the squatting woman; he returned the next day to where he had glimpsed her, making three sketches of the courtyard, with its distinctive post-and-lintel passageway, and with graffiti on the wall (Perry 2013). The graffiti does not feature in E.145, but does appear in an oil painting made after the print, also in 2007 (Perry 2013).

  Amor was never completely happy with the rendering of the woman’s pose through the first five states of the etching and in its first edition, and he therefore decided to rework the figure in drypoint. Before making the changes, he hired a model to strike the woman’s pose for him; the result was a large drawing in pencil, dated 3 July 2007 (Perry 2013). However, further work on the copper plate, towards a second edition of the print, was delayed until 2010, when the artist substantially recast the composition, using drypoint, and, over six states, fine-tuned the figure’s pose.

  The 2010 version of the etching is more clearly a nocturnal scene. In its deep black drypoint accents and its rendering of the woman’s bare flesh, it evokes in the viewer a sense of surprise, thus reflecting the sense of surprise originally caused by an inadvertent glimpse of an intimate human act.