09 Jul L’ANGE D’ALLIANCE. 1986.
N.p.: n.p., 1986
60 x 42cm, full colour offset lithographic poster showing the title artwork (after a photograph by Andre Morin). Folded else VG++.
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07 Jul PEAR. 1986.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
9 x 10.5cm, 4pp folding card with a line drawing of a pear by Stephanie Kedik, printed black on light brown with the following texts on the left and right inner folds - on the left::
very fine
late cherry
and on the right:
fine later
large pear
The references from from Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book that lists his activities in two different gardens during the 1766 to 1824 period (the gardens it should be noted, in a great part, had their upkeep from slaves). Finlay's texts remind the reader of the physical similarity of the two plump fruits but also they differentiate the two gardens of the President's life - in fact the first entry in Jefferson's diary is a description of his cherries and, later, he he writes about a 'Seckel Pear' at Monticello (his second house) claiming this variety "exceeded anything I have tasted since I left France, and equalled any pear I had seen there." The two poems therefore also represent the young and the old life of the gardener. VG+. Scarce.
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02 Jul WREATHING OF ROCKETS. 1986.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
7 x 7cm, 4pp folding card with a poem by Finlay based on a newspaper report on the repairs made to wells which gave the poet his last line.
wreathing of rockets<BR.
dusting of dreadnoughts
greening of gun-sites
parading of panzers
dressing of wells
The lines all describe war machines being camouflaged - a common theme in Finlay which is a momento mori - death can be found in beauty. VG+.
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24 Jun STRAWBERRY HILL IN 5 VISUAL POEMS. 1986.
Minneapolis : Phil Gallo at the Hermetic Press, 1986
28 x 40cm, yellow printed folder in the form of an envelope content of 5 "visual poems" on various papers:
1) A Discrete Sign on the Steinway., by Jonathan Williams. One of 130 copies.
2) My Lipstick.from His Lips.To Your Teeth, by Phil Gallo, edition limited to 100 copies.
3) EMPO POEM, by Karl Kempton, edition limited to 100 copies
4) Language, by Scott Helmes, edition limited to 100 copies
and Finlay's contribution:
5) Strawberry Hill "Precipices, Mountains.," by Ian Hamilton Finlay, edition limited to 140 copies. 35.5 x 17cm, 1pp. The print is a letterpress on deckled paper - which quotes Horace Walpole on his intent to create a "little Gothic Castle at Strawberry Hill". Below that quotation is a further quotation from Walpole (the son of the then British Prime Minister) describing the environment on Strawberry Hill namely "Precipices, mountains, torrents, wolves, rumblings" and the below that a final pairing of "Wild cats, Corsairs...
19 Jun CONTEMPORARY BRITISH MEDALS.
London:British Museum Publications, 1986
24 x 19cm, 64pp plus card covers. Exhibition catalogue displaying a range of contemporary British medals. Finlay produced 6 different medals all of which are reproduced in b/w with details. VG+.
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18 Jun XEROX COPY OF “THE GARDEN OF UNREST” FROM OBSERVER COLOUR SUPPLEMENT 1986
30 x 21cm, 4pp b/w xerox copy of an article on Finlay by Graham Rose in the Observer Sunday Supplement specifically discussing the poet's interest in Albert Speer's garden in Spandau prison. A fair discussion and Finlay explains early on in the article that using symbols of evil in art does not mean that an artist is supporting such symbols. VG.
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09 Jun AKTION DE “WNDLUNG”. 1986.
Bonn: Bildkunst, 1986 15 x 10.5cm, 2pp postcard showing Beuys creating the aktion die "Wandlung" at Dokumenta 7 in 1982 on the front, verso publisher's details. The performance saw the artist melt down a copy of Czar Ivan the terrible's crown into a hare and the orb of the sun as symbols of trans-European peace. VG+. ...
07 Jun A MODEST HERO. 1986.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
19.1 × 11.7cm, 1pp blue on white artist's card with a drawing by Gary Hincks. The drawing shows a watering can in a floral garden setting.
The phrase "modest hero" was coined by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre when referring to the ordinary man (and woman) at the centre of the French revolution - but the watering can is a reminder of the Thermidorian reaction as The Directory came to replace the rule of Robespierre and eventually the rise of the dictator Napoleon. VG+.
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04 Jun Z ARCHIWUM BEUYS’ A” KOLEKCJA MUZEUM. 1986.
N.p. (Warsaw): Galeria Foksal, 1986
10.5 x 15cm, 1pp typographic announcement card for a posthumous show that took place only 5 months after Beuys' death. This card is signed by the founder of the important Polish gallery Wieslaw Borowski in ink. VG+.
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30 May TWILIGHT. 1986.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
20.5 x 17.5cm, printed dark outer folder content of a single 20.5 x 17.5cm offset lithograph. The folder has the word "TWILIGHT" printed at the top and inner sheet has "TWILIGHT" above the word "remembers" (in lower case as here). The blue paper references the deepening gloom of the passage of the day into night. But still twilight remembers day in the sense that some light is still to be found before darkness falls in its entirely. VG+.
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29 May IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. A DAVID. MARAT. 1986.
London: Victoria Miro Gallery, 1986
21 x 10.5cm, 42pp announcement card for a solo show. This card has two drawings - one each side - by Gary Hincks that is not reproduced anywhere else as far as we know. The plinth on one side shows a republican rosette with ribbons left with the words "A DAVID. MARAT". The second drawing is of the back of the same plinth but with gallery details over it. David, of course, painted the famous death of Marat painting, here Marat returns the favour with a simple tribute on the stone.
This is strictly an exhibition invite but it also could be regarded as an artist's card which was not released or categorised as such by Finlay. After some consideration we have left it as an announcement. VG+.
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29 May IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. 1986.
London: Victoria Miro, 1986
23 x 20.5cm, 12pp plus red card covers. Exhibition catalogue for a solo show - text only, with a "preface" by Stephen Bann which is the only commentary for the exhibition,. VG+.
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