APW George Collie
Memorial Award
APW George Collie Memorial Award: Rick Amor + Noel Counihan Australian Print Workshop is honoured to have been invited by The Collie Print Trust to reinstate and administer the George Collie Memorial Award. Established in honour of the late George Collie (1893-1961), who worked for his father’s print ink manufacturing company R. Collie & Co Pty Ltd., this prestigious annual award has been re-established to recognise and celebrate those who have made significant and enduring contributions to Australian printmaking. The inaugural APW George Collie Memorial Award has been presented to two highly respected and influential Australian artists; Noel Counihan and Rick Amor. Noel and Rick are renowned for their powerful prints and their lifelong dedication to the art of printmaking. Australian Print Workshop is honoured and very proud to have important and long held associations with both artists. Noel Counihan was a highly influential member of the Victorian Printmakers Group, active in Melbourne in the late 1970’s. Following the closure of the Printmakers Group, a new structure and workshop was established in 1980. Known as the Victorian Print Workshop, Noel Counihan was instrumental in the establishment of the new print
The pairing of Noel Counihan (1913-1986) and Rick Amor (b. 1948) in this exhibition is most appropriate. The two artists knew one another and appreciated each other’s art. In 1966 Noel Counihan awarded Amor the NGV Art School’s portrait prize. In turn, Amor, when illustrating the 1984 fiftieth anniversary edition of Alan Marshall’s book, These Are My People, conceived the illustrations expressly in the style of Counihan’s linocuts of the 1930’s. The art of both has been determinedly figurative, even when that put it out of step with prevailing trends. Both spent time as political cartoonists dedicated to left wing politics. However, Amor came to realise that his natural inclination as an artist resided in the realm of the personal and in the expression of mood and feeling, and it was with this realisation that his art began to flower. Printmaking has been an integral part of his and Counihan’s art, and the resources and facilities of the APW have been important to both.
workshop and was invited by the Victorian Ministry for the Arts to become one of the first artist members of the workshop’s advisory committee (now known as Australian Print Workshop). Rick Amor has a creative relationship with Australian Print Workshop that spans almost three decades. Over the years, Rick has produced over 80 fine art limited prints in collaboration with APW Printers that have been exhibited and acquired by major Art Galleries and Museums throughout Australia and overseas. Many examples of both artists’ print works are represented in the extensive APW Proof archive collection held at the Workshop. With the exception of Rick Amor’s lithograph Lost Time, that was specially commissioned by APW as part of the Award, all works included in the 2014 George Collie Memorial Award exhibition have been curated from APW’s collection.
Indeed, Noel Counihan was one of the founding members of the APW from its inception in the Victorian Printmakers’ Group, formed in 1976. The prints included here reflect two of the main currents in his art: his social and political concerns and his interest in the human face. All four linocuts were made in 1978 and were first printed by the artist at that time. Demonstrator, belongs to a cluster of linocuts depicting a single female protester with a placard, the earliest of which appeared in 1976, prompted presumably by anger at the dismissal of the Whitlam government in the previous year. City is one of a group of works showing a homeless man sleeping in the street; although Counihan proofed the print in 1978, it was first editioned posthumously at the APW. The last of the Counihan prints The Shadow, was drawn on the stone and printed just before his death in early July 1986. A moralising satire with stylistic roots in German prints of the 1930’s, it demonstrates the tenacious nature of the artist’s social and political commitment.
Australian Print Workshop is delighted to present the inaugural George Collie Memorial Award to Noel Counihan and Rick Amor. Anne Virgo Director, Australian Print Workshop
Rick Amor working on his lithograph Lost Time, in the APW Studio, Melbourne, 2014
far left
Rick Amor + Noel Counihan Noel Counihan working on his lithograph The Shadow, in the APW Studio, Melbourne, 1986
Rick Amor Lost Time Lithograph drawn on the stone by the Artist and printed in an edition of 15 plus proofs by APW Senior Printer Martin King at Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, 2014 Image Size: 51.5 x 64cm. Paper Size: 56 x 76cm This work was specially commissioned by APW for the APW George Collie Memorial Award exhibition
Rick Amor has been making prints since the late 1960’s, but it was not until 1991 that he started having his editions printed at the APW; to date, 83 of his prints have been editioned here. The present selection includes a number of his outstanding and iconic images: the running man and the sea; the bald waiter with an unfathomable expression; the looming ship; the doorway; the street view incorporating a mysterious narrative and, as with every Amor exhibition, a self portrait. Through their intense focus the images seem to summon up silence, and the mood they evoke is frequently disquieting or elegiac. The prints are often, though not always, highly worked, or worked over many years. Three Figures by a Building was begun in 1995 and worked on intermittently until 2007. Portal, one of the Venice Series commissioned by the APW, went through many states before it was considered finished; The Ship, on the other hand, exists in just one state. For all their dark poetry, the images begin with observed reality, a reality which is then transformed by the artist into a new, more intense, yet still recognisable world. Irena Zdanowicz Former Senior Curator, Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Victoria
Published on the occasion of the exhibition APW George Collie Memorial Award Rick Amor + Noel Counihan held at Australian Print Workshop Gallery, Melbourne 30 August – 4 October 2014 ISBN 978-0-9871923-5-6 Published by Australian Print Workshop Inc., Melbourne, Australia, 2014 First printed in an edition of 500 © Australian Print Workshop Incorporated and the Artists, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical (including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval systems), without permission in writing from the publisher.
Australian Print Workshop 210 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065 PO Box 1236, Collingwood, Victoria 3066 T: 03 9419 5466 E: auspw@bigpond.com www.australianprintworkshop.com Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am–5pm
Rick Amor is represented by Niagara Galleries, Melbourne Australian Print Workshop gratefully acknowledges the generous support of The Collie Print Trust and the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria.
APW George Collie
Memorial Award
APW George Collie Memorial Award: Rick Amor + Noel Counihan Australian Print Workshop is honoured to have been invited by The Collie Print Trust to reinstate and administer the George Collie Memorial Award. Established in honour of the late George Collie (1893-1961), who worked for his father’s print ink manufacturing company R. Collie & Co Pty Ltd., this prestigious annual award has been re-established to recognise and celebrate those who have made significant and enduring contributions to Australian printmaking. The inaugural APW George Collie Memorial Award has been presented to two highly respected and influential Australian artists; Noel Counihan and Rick Amor. Noel and Rick are renowned for their powerful prints and their lifelong dedication to the art of printmaking. Australian Print Workshop is honoured and very proud to have important and long held associations with both artists. Noel Counihan was a highly influential member of the Victorian Printmakers Group, active in Melbourne in the late 1970’s. Following the closure of the Printmakers Group, a new structure and workshop was established in 1980. Known as the Victorian Print Workshop, Noel Counihan was instrumental in the establishment of the new print
The pairing of Noel Counihan (1913-1986) and Rick Amor (b. 1948) in this exhibition is most appropriate. The two artists knew one another and appreciated each other’s art. In 1966 Noel Counihan awarded Amor the NGV Art School’s portrait prize. In turn, Amor, when illustrating the 1984 fiftieth anniversary edition of Alan Marshall’s book, These Are My People, conceived the illustrations expressly in the style of Counihan’s linocuts of the 1930’s. The art of both has been determinedly figurative, even when that put it out of step with prevailing trends. Both spent time as political cartoonists dedicated to left wing politics. However, Amor came to realise that his natural inclination as an artist resided in the realm of the personal and in the expression of mood and feeling, and it was with this realisation that his art began to flower. Printmaking has been an integral part of his and Counihan’s art, and the resources and facilities of the APW have been important to both.
workshop and was invited by the Victorian Ministry for the Arts to become one of the first artist members of the workshop’s advisory committee (now known as Australian Print Workshop). Rick Amor has a creative relationship with Australian Print Workshop that spans almost three decades. Over the years, Rick has produced over 80 fine art limited prints in collaboration with APW Printers that have been exhibited and acquired by major Art Galleries and Museums throughout Australia and overseas. Many examples of both artists’ print works are represented in the extensive APW Proof archive collection held at the Workshop. With the exception of Rick Amor’s lithograph Lost Time, that was specially commissioned by APW as part of the Award, all works included in the 2014 George Collie Memorial Award exhibition have been curated from APW’s collection.
Indeed, Noel Counihan was one of the founding members of the APW from its inception in the Victorian Printmakers’ Group, formed in 1976. The prints included here reflect two of the main currents in his art: his social and political concerns and his interest in the human face. All four linocuts were made in 1978 and were first printed by the artist at that time. Demonstrator, belongs to a cluster of linocuts depicting a single female protester with a placard, the earliest of which appeared in 1976, prompted presumably by anger at the dismissal of the Whitlam government in the previous year. City is one of a group of works showing a homeless man sleeping in the street; although Counihan proofed the print in 1978, it was first editioned posthumously at the APW. The last of the Counihan prints The Shadow, was drawn on the stone and printed just before his death in early July 1986. A moralising satire with stylistic roots in German prints of the 1930’s, it demonstrates the tenacious nature of the artist’s social and political commitment.
Australian Print Workshop is delighted to present the inaugural George Collie Memorial Award to Noel Counihan and Rick Amor. Anne Virgo Director, Australian Print Workshop
Rick Amor working on his lithograph Lost Time, in the APW Studio, Melbourne, 2014
far left
Rick Amor + Noel Counihan Noel Counihan working on his lithograph The Shadow, in the APW Studio, Melbourne, 1986
Rick Amor Lost Time Lithograph drawn on the stone by the Artist and printed in an edition of 15 plus proofs by APW Senior Printer Martin King at Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, 2014 Image Size: 51.5 x 64cm. Paper Size: 56 x 76cm This work was specially commissioned by APW for the APW George Collie Memorial Award exhibition
Rick Amor has been making prints since the late 1960’s, but it was not until 1991 that he started having his editions printed at the APW; to date, 83 of his prints have been editioned here. The present selection includes a number of his outstanding and iconic images: the running man and the sea; the bald waiter with an unfathomable expression; the looming ship; the doorway; the street view incorporating a mysterious narrative and, as with every Amor exhibition, a self portrait. Through their intense focus the images seem to summon up silence, and the mood they evoke is frequently disquieting or elegiac. The prints are often, though not always, highly worked, or worked over many years. Three Figures by a Building was begun in 1995 and worked on intermittently until 2007. Portal, one of the Venice Series commissioned by the APW, went through many states before it was considered finished; The Ship, on the other hand, exists in just one state. For all their dark poetry, the images begin with observed reality, a reality which is then transformed by the artist into a new, more intense, yet still recognisable world. Irena Zdanowicz Former Senior Curator, Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Victoria
Published on the occasion of the exhibition APW George Collie Memorial Award Rick Amor + Noel Counihan held at Australian Print Workshop Gallery, Melbourne 30 August – 4 October 2014 ISBN 978-0-9871923-5-6 Published by Australian Print Workshop Inc., Melbourne, Australia, 2014 First printed in an edition of 500 © Australian Print Workshop Incorporated and the Artists, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical (including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval systems), without permission in writing from the publisher.
Australian Print Workshop 210 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065 PO Box 1236, Collingwood, Victoria 3066 T: 03 9419 5466 E: auspw@bigpond.com www.australianprintworkshop.com Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am–5pm
Rick Amor is represented by Niagara Galleries, Melbourne Australian Print Workshop gratefully acknowledges the generous support of The Collie Print Trust and the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria.
APW George Collie
Memorial Award
APW George Collie Memorial Award: Rick Amor + Noel Counihan Australian Print Workshop is honoured to have been invited by The Collie Print Trust to reinstate and administer the George Collie Memorial Award. Established in honour of the late George Collie (1893-1961), who worked for his father’s print ink manufacturing company R. Collie & Co Pty Ltd., this prestigious annual award has been re-established to recognise and celebrate those who have made significant and enduring contributions to Australian printmaking. The inaugural APW George Collie Memorial Award has been presented to two highly respected and influential Australian artists; Noel Counihan and Rick Amor. Noel and Rick are renowned for their powerful prints and their lifelong dedication to the art of printmaking. Australian Print Workshop is honoured and very proud to have important and long held associations with both artists. Noel Counihan was a highly influential member of the Victorian Printmakers Group, active in Melbourne in the late 1970’s. Following the closure of the Printmakers Group, a new structure and workshop was established in 1980. Known as the Victorian Print Workshop, Noel Counihan was instrumental in the establishment of the new print
The pairing of Noel Counihan (1913-1986) and Rick Amor (b. 1948) in this exhibition is most appropriate. The two artists knew one another and appreciated each other’s art. In 1966 Noel Counihan awarded Amor the NGV Art School’s portrait prize. In turn, Amor, when illustrating the 1984 fiftieth anniversary edition of Alan Marshall’s book, These Are My People, conceived the illustrations expressly in the style of Counihan’s linocuts of the 1930’s. The art of both has been determinedly figurative, even when that put it out of step with prevailing trends. Both spent time as political cartoonists dedicated to left wing politics. However, Amor came to realise that his natural inclination as an artist resided in the realm of the personal and in the expression of mood and feeling, and it was with this realisation that his art began to flower. Printmaking has been an integral part of his and Counihan’s art, and the resources and facilities of the APW have been important to both.
workshop and was invited by the Victorian Ministry for the Arts to become one of the first artist members of the workshop’s advisory committee (now known as Australian Print Workshop). Rick Amor has a creative relationship with Australian Print Workshop that spans almost three decades. Over the years, Rick has produced over 80 fine art limited prints in collaboration with APW Printers that have been exhibited and acquired by major Art Galleries and Museums throughout Australia and overseas. Many examples of both artists’ print works are represented in the extensive APW Proof archive collection held at the Workshop. With the exception of Rick Amor’s lithograph Lost Time, that was specially commissioned by APW as part of the Award, all works included in the 2014 George Collie Memorial Award exhibition have been curated from APW’s collection.
Indeed, Noel Counihan was one of the founding members of the APW from its inception in the Victorian Printmakers’ Group, formed in 1976. The prints included here reflect two of the main currents in his art: his social and political concerns and his interest in the human face. All four linocuts were made in 1978 and were first printed by the artist at that time. Demonstrator, belongs to a cluster of linocuts depicting a single female protester with a placard, the earliest of which appeared in 1976, prompted presumably by anger at the dismissal of the Whitlam government in the previous year. City is one of a group of works showing a homeless man sleeping in the street; although Counihan proofed the print in 1978, it was first editioned posthumously at the APW. The last of the Counihan prints The Shadow, was drawn on the stone and printed just before his death in early July 1986. A moralising satire with stylistic roots in German prints of the 1930’s, it demonstrates the tenacious nature of the artist’s social and political commitment.
Australian Print Workshop is delighted to present the inaugural George Collie Memorial Award to Noel Counihan and Rick Amor. Anne Virgo Director, Australian Print Workshop
Rick Amor working on his lithograph Lost Time, in the APW Studio, Melbourne, 2014
far left
Rick Amor + Noel Counihan Noel Counihan working on his lithograph The Shadow, in the APW Studio, Melbourne, 1986
Rick Amor Lost Time Lithograph drawn on the stone by the Artist and printed in an edition of 15 plus proofs by APW Senior Printer Martin King at Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, 2014 Image Size: 51.5 x 64cm. Paper Size: 56 x 76cm This work was specially commissioned by APW for the APW George Collie Memorial Award exhibition
Rick Amor has been making prints since the late 1960’s, but it was not until 1991 that he started having his editions printed at the APW; to date, 83 of his prints have been editioned here. The present selection includes a number of his outstanding and iconic images: the running man and the sea; the bald waiter with an unfathomable expression; the looming ship; the doorway; the street view incorporating a mysterious narrative and, as with every Amor exhibition, a self portrait. Through their intense focus the images seem to summon up silence, and the mood they evoke is frequently disquieting or elegiac. The prints are often, though not always, highly worked, or worked over many years. Three Figures by a Building was begun in 1995 and worked on intermittently until 2007. Portal, one of the Venice Series commissioned by the APW, went through many states before it was considered finished; The Ship, on the other hand, exists in just one state. For all their dark poetry, the images begin with observed reality, a reality which is then transformed by the artist into a new, more intense, yet still recognisable world. Irena Zdanowicz Former Senior Curator, Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Victoria
Published on the occasion of the exhibition APW George Collie Memorial Award Rick Amor + Noel Counihan held at Australian Print Workshop Gallery, Melbourne 30 August – 4 October 2014 ISBN 978-0-9871923-5-6 Published by Australian Print Workshop Inc., Melbourne, Australia, 2014 First printed in an edition of 500 © Australian Print Workshop Incorporated and the Artists, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical (including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval systems), without permission in writing from the publisher.
Australian Print Workshop 210 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065 PO Box 1236, Collingwood, Victoria 3066 T: 03 9419 5466 E: auspw@bigpond.com www.australianprintworkshop.com Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am–5pm
Rick Amor is represented by Niagara Galleries, Melbourne Australian Print Workshop gratefully acknowledges the generous support of The Collie Print Trust and the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria.
APW George Collie
Memorial Award
APW George Collie Memorial Award: Rick Amor + Noel Counihan Australian Print Workshop is honoured to have been invited by The Collie Print Trust to reinstate and administer the George Collie Memorial Award. Established in honour of the late George Collie (1893-1961), who worked for his father’s print ink manufacturing company R. Collie & Co Pty Ltd., this prestigious annual award has been re-established to recognise and celebrate those who have made significant and enduring contributions to Australian printmaking. The inaugural APW George Collie Memorial Award has been presented to two highly respected and influential Australian artists; Noel Counihan and Rick Amor. Noel and Rick are renowned for their powerful prints and their lifelong dedication to the art of printmaking. Australian Print Workshop is honoured and very proud to have important and long held associations with both artists. Noel Counihan was a highly influential member of the Victorian Printmakers Group, active in Melbourne in the late 1970’s. Following the closure of the Printmakers Group, a new structure and workshop was established in 1980. Known as the Victorian Print Workshop, Noel Counihan was instrumental in the establishment of the new print
The pairing of Noel Counihan (1913-1986) and Rick Amor (b. 1948) in this exhibition is most appropriate. The two artists knew one another and appreciated each other’s art. In 1966 Noel Counihan awarded Amor the NGV Art School’s portrait prize. In turn, Amor, when illustrating the 1984 fiftieth anniversary edition of Alan Marshall’s book, These Are My People, conceived the illustrations expressly in the style of Counihan’s linocuts of the 1930’s. The art of both has been determinedly figurative, even when that put it out of step with prevailing trends. Both spent time as political cartoonists dedicated to left wing politics. However, Amor came to realise that his natural inclination as an artist resided in the realm of the personal and in the expression of mood and feeling, and it was with this realisation that his art began to flower. Printmaking has been an integral part of his and Counihan’s art, and the resources and facilities of the APW have been important to both.
workshop and was invited by the Victorian Ministry for the Arts to become one of the first artist members of the workshop’s advisory committee (now known as Australian Print Workshop). Rick Amor has a creative relationship with Australian Print Workshop that spans almost three decades. Over the years, Rick has produced over 80 fine art limited prints in collaboration with APW Printers that have been exhibited and acquired by major Art Galleries and Museums throughout Australia and overseas. Many examples of both artists’ print works are represented in the extensive APW Proof archive collection held at the Workshop. With the exception of Rick Amor’s lithograph Lost Time, that was specially commissioned by APW as part of the Award, all works included in the 2014 George Collie Memorial Award exhibition have been curated from APW’s collection.
Indeed, Noel Counihan was one of the founding members of the APW from its inception in the Victorian Printmakers’ Group, formed in 1976. The prints included here reflect two of the main currents in his art: his social and political concerns and his interest in the human face. All four linocuts were made in 1978 and were first printed by the artist at that time. Demonstrator, belongs to a cluster of linocuts depicting a single female protester with a placard, the earliest of which appeared in 1976, prompted presumably by anger at the dismissal of the Whitlam government in the previous year. City is one of a group of works showing a homeless man sleeping in the street; although Counihan proofed the print in 1978, it was first editioned posthumously at the APW. The last of the Counihan prints The Shadow, was drawn on the stone and printed just before his death in early July 1986. A moralising satire with stylistic roots in German prints of the 1930’s, it demonstrates the tenacious nature of the artist’s social and political commitment.
Australian Print Workshop is delighted to present the inaugural George Collie Memorial Award to Noel Counihan and Rick Amor. Anne Virgo Director, Australian Print Workshop
Rick Amor working on his lithograph Lost Time, in the APW Studio, Melbourne, 2014
far left
Rick Amor + Noel Counihan Noel Counihan working on his lithograph The Shadow, in the APW Studio, Melbourne, 1986
Rick Amor Lost Time Lithograph drawn on the stone by the Artist and printed in an edition of 15 plus proofs by APW Senior Printer Martin King at Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, 2014 Image Size: 51.5 x 64cm. Paper Size: 56 x 76cm This work was specially commissioned by APW for the APW George Collie Memorial Award exhibition
Rick Amor has been making prints since the late 1960’s, but it was not until 1991 that he started having his editions printed at the APW; to date, 83 of his prints have been editioned here. The present selection includes a number of his outstanding and iconic images: the running man and the sea; the bald waiter with an unfathomable expression; the looming ship; the doorway; the street view incorporating a mysterious narrative and, as with every Amor exhibition, a self portrait. Through their intense focus the images seem to summon up silence, and the mood they evoke is frequently disquieting or elegiac. The prints are often, though not always, highly worked, or worked over many years. Three Figures by a Building was begun in 1995 and worked on intermittently until 2007. Portal, one of the Venice Series commissioned by the APW, went through many states before it was considered finished; The Ship, on the other hand, exists in just one state. For all their dark poetry, the images begin with observed reality, a reality which is then transformed by the artist into a new, more intense, yet still recognisable world. Irena Zdanowicz Former Senior Curator, Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Victoria
Published on the occasion of the exhibition APW George Collie Memorial Award Rick Amor + Noel Counihan held at Australian Print Workshop Gallery, Melbourne 30 August – 4 October 2014 ISBN 978-0-9871923-5-6 Published by Australian Print Workshop Inc., Melbourne, Australia, 2014 First printed in an edition of 500 © Australian Print Workshop Incorporated and the Artists, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical (including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval systems), without permission in writing from the publisher.
Australian Print Workshop 210 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065 PO Box 1236, Collingwood, Victoria 3066 T: 03 9419 5466 E: auspw@bigpond.com www.australianprintworkshop.com Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am–5pm
Rick Amor is represented by Niagara Galleries, Melbourne Australian Print Workshop gratefully acknowledges the generous support of The Collie Print Trust and the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria.