30 Dec NATIONAL FLAGS SERIES: ARCADIA. 1975.
Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975.
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp. The second of four "National Flags" created by Finlay - here a green rectangle with a skull and crossbones top left. Arcadia, was of course, a rural utopia, a place of perfection but in its most famous form it is in the Poussin painting ET ARCADIA EGO where a crypt is found with the inscription carved on it. It is a reminder of humanity's fate to die no matter how wonderful the life one lives. The "pirate" symbol here has the same function although the flag taken as a whole would suggest the viewer should be cautious. Finlay has created many words based on the Poussin. VG+
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