02 Mar

Posted at 20:02h in Letters + Documents

30 x 21cm, 1pp original carbon copy on typing paper.
A copy of a letter sent by Finlay to the J. N. Young, Assistant Director of Finance for Strathclyde Region.
The letter informs Mr Young that much like the way Strathclyde Region had demanded proof of ownership of any works taken from Little Sparta if they were to be returned on the basis that they were not entirely Finlay's property, that he, Finlay, will now apply the same logic to "any of your property" should he "happen to find himself in possession of it.".
Finlay then wrote "Some might think that the Region has not only engaged in theft but is proposing a kind of Instant Abolition of all Property - no doubt an enlightened policy but is it one which is to be expected from Stalinist Populists?"
A hilarious letter with copies sent to most members of the Saint-Just Vigilantes.

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01 Mar

Posted at 13:36h in Joseph Beuys Postcards

Gelsenkirchen, Free International University - FIU, 1982 14.8 x 10.4cm, 2pp - artist's postcard designed by Johannes Stuettgen for the Green Party in Germany. The Greens took part in elections in the Federal Republic of Germany on March 6, 1983 and for the first time the Greens managed to elect their own supporters to parliament. Beuys was one of the founders of the German Green Party and used his popularity to garner support for the group as here. The signature on the card is printed. VG+. ...

20 Feb

Posted at 15:13h in Artist's Books

Dunsyre/Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, (1983)
7.8 x 8.2cm outer folder content of eight 7.8 x 8.2cmm 1pp cards. Each of seven cards (the eighth is a colophon) suggests single word changes to lines from Ovid's Metamorphoses to alter the meaning of the line and a drawing by Gary Hincks. As often Finlay enjoys the effects of minimal changes to cause maximum effect. Arguably a colleciton of artist's postcards but the cards could not stand alone so we agree this is categorised as an artist's book. VG+

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08 Feb

Posted at 19:48h in PHOTOGRAPHS

17.7 x 12.7cm, b/w vintage silver gelatine print displaying one works hanging in the artist's studio - part of his Grotesques series where figurative sculpture were made from bits of wood and discarded items such as buttons and photographed. On the reverse is a label indicating the title and the date of the photograph. Photographer unknown.

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08 Feb

Posted at 19:45h in PHOTOGRAPHS

17.7 x 12.7cm, b/w vintage silver gelatine print displaying three works hanging in the artist's studio - part of his Grotesques series where figurative sculpture were made from bits of wood and discarded items such as buttons and photographed. On the reverse is a label indicating the title and the dates of the photographs (the two left and right being 1982 and the one in the centre (Composition enchantee) from 1982. Photographer unknown.

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08 Feb

Posted at 19:37h in PHOTOGRAPHS

12.7 x 17.7cm, b/w vintage silver gelatine print displaying four works hanging in the artist's studio - part of his Grotesques series where figurative sculpture were made from bits of wood and discarded items such as buttons and photographed. Some handwriting on reverse for use in reproduction including date and title. Photographer unknown.

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08 Feb

Posted at 19:33h in PHOTOGRAPHS

17.7 x 12.7cm, b/w vintage silver gelatine print displaying three works hanging in the artist's studio - part of his Grotesques series where figurative sculpture were made from bits of wood and rubbish and photographed. Label attached on the reverse with details. Photographer unknown.

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06 Feb

Posted at 11:16h in Letters + Documents

Littel Sparta: Finlay, 6th February 1983
30 x 21cm, original xerox copy of a statement quoting the text of a telegram sent by Ian Hamilton Finlay to the Chief Executive of Strathclyde Region. The text reads:
LITTLE SPARTA 6 2 83 1400 HOURS STOP LITTLE SPARTA ACKNOWLEDGES MESSAGES OF SUPPORT RECEIVED DURING FRIDAY'S SUCCESSFUL BATTLE INCLUDING TELEGRAMS FROM LONDON PARIS BERLIN STOP LS OFFERS IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL DEFENCES IN EXCHANGE DISCUSSIONS WITH STRATHCLYDE REGION STOP LS ALLOWS DISCUSSIONS TAKE PLACE UNDER TRIPARTITE AGREEMENT BETWEEN LS SR AND SAC STOP.

A proposal for the Scottish Arts Council to help mediate a solution to the dispute between the Region and FInlay. Later Finlay would feel the SAC had betrayed him (and art) by refusing to take a stance.
A the bottom of this leaflet is the text "FERME ORNEE ARMOURED TANK" and a rare (reproduced) drawing by Finlay of a haystack with a stick protruding from it (to look like a tank).

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04 Feb

Posted at 10:58h in Letters + Documents

Little Sparta: Finlay, 4th February 1983
An original vintage xerox 30 x 21cm, 1pp campaign leaflet handed out by the Saint-Just Vigilantes during protests against the Warrant Sale of works taken from Finlay's Temple by Strathclyde region. Facsimile of Finlay's handwriting the text "despises that entertainment industry known as The Arts, all silent and absent, acquiescent art critics, all collaborating artists (Houston, Moffat, Morgan, etc) NEW NUREMBERGS AWAIT THEM, all unbureaucratic bureaucrats and their eccentric last stands on horrible Stalinist principles."
"Little Sparta supports: the right to live under present laws, the right to remain within Great Britain, the right to act in the light (and shade) of traditional Europe."
LITTLE SPARTA: AN IMAGINARY GARDEN WITH REAL POLICE"

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29 Jan

Posted at 20:39h in Prints + Posters

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
22.2 x 20cm, full colour offset lithograph showing what purports to be a secret cachet between the members of the Saint)Just Vigilantes (the support group who helped Finlay resist the attempts by Strathclyde Region to seize artworks by Finlay in lieu of what they claimed was unpaid rates for the Temple at Little Sparta). The supposed message cannot be seen as the paper itself has a camouflage pattern. (In this joke Finlay preempts a current common internet meme that camouflage makes things invisible, but we digress.) A very good + example which does not have any lemon juice or any other secret message added to it as far as we know.

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24 Jan

Posted at 16:52h in Page Works & Contributions

Noordwijk: MW Press 28, January 1983
38 x 28cm, 20pp. Artist's journal in the form of a tabloid newspaper which here has an 8pp contribution by Finlay in Nicolas Sloan's facsimile handwriting. Also has "an illustrated history of the Little Sparta Wars" along with a "diary" and reproductions of two letters. The paper is fragile due to being very cheap and is unavoidable browned. Folded for storage. Very scarce.

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03 Jan

Posted at 14:20h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorne Press, 1983 20.3 x 15.5cm, 2pp artist designed postcard issued during the Little Sparta War - with on the reverse the announcement that the "GARDEN & the GARDEN TEMPLE are CLOSED" for the year of 1983 because of the "ASSAULT by Strathclyde Region". The card also notes that "NO-ONE CAN LEAVE THE ARMY EXCEPT AT THE END OF A WAR". VG+. Scarce....

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