Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
13.1 x 10cm, 8pp (concertina folded sheet). Three variants the first being Guillaume Apollinaire's calligramme in the shape of a crown and then two variants by Finlay and Stephen Bann. Finlay's when deconstructed reads "The carp enters who die one by one live on in the hearts of the Jacobins". VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d.(1994)
15 x 7.4cm, 12pp plus card covers . Internally there are four short lines, one per page:
the lights of Paimpol
the lights of Concarneau
the lights of Le Conquet
the lights of Roscoff
the lights of Quessant
the lights of Walston
shine in the rain
Finlay notes that Walston is a landlocked village on the hillside opposite the author's home.
All the other place names are French coastal communes where the nighttime lights would act as a welcome (and warming) beacon for returning boats. Finlay is suggesting his view of Walston is as welcoming. He dedicates the books to "Ailie". VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1983)
A portfolio of four different 21 x 29.5 cm, 1pp offset lithographs printed red and black on cream paper each with a text from Saint-Just as chosen by Finlay:
EQUALITY DOES NOT CONSIST IN EVERYONE BEING ARROGANT BUT IN EVERYONE BEING MODEST.
LONG LAWS ARE PUBLIC CALAMITIES
THE WARS OF LIBERTY MUST BE CONDUCTED WITH RAGE
WHEN MAN OBEYS WITHOUT BEING PRESUMED GOOD THERE IS NEITHER LIBERT NOR A NATIVE LAND.
VG+. Scarce.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994 21.8 x 12.2cm, 4pp folding card printed green on cream card with a drawing by Gary Hincks on the front of a cairn of stones and an oar covered in netting to create a makeshift monument - a reference to Homer's Odyssey. This was a proposed public work for Bernhard and Marie Starkmann. VG+. ...
Zurich: Museum der Stadentwasserung Zurich, 1994
24 x 17cm, outer printed folder content of 282pp (all unbound sheets - most 2pp but plates are 1pp). A group exhibition which was themed around the fact that the Cloaca Maxima was one of the world's earliest sewage systems. Each artist contributed a work to the exhibition and Boltanski displayed the Objets Trouves dans Les Egouts de Zurich (Objects Found in The Sewers of Zurich) and 31 objects are reproduced in b/w on the sheets here.
Other artists included in the show were Fischli/Weiss, Paul-Armand Gette, Gilbert & George. Hans Haacke, Carsten Holler, Ilya Kabakov, Allan Kaprow, Otto Muhl, Gerhard Richter, Andreas Slominiski, Nancy Spero amongst others. Texts in German, French and English. VG+ sheets in slightly worn folder....
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
9.4 x 12.6cm, 2pp card with on the front the text "A world cup without Scotland is like a pastoral without sheep." The world cup in 1994 was the first to take place for many years without Scotland (1990 being the last time they actually qualified at time of writing). Finlay's remarks are patriotic in a soccer sense. This example was mailed and hand addressed by Finlay to Janey Boulton. VG+ although some ink from the posting experience. The same card was also released in a card portfolio by Morningstar pPress in the same year. VG+.
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Berlin: En Passant, 1994
21 x 15cm, 6pp plus card covers. Exhibition handout for three simultaneous exhibitions by Boltanski - short essay by Michael Glasmeier in German with no illustrations, VG+.
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Aachen: Thouet Verlag and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König. 1994.
26.7 x 20.8cm, 980pp (approx.). Artist's book which reproduces 975 black and white appropriated photographs of mostly faces (although there are group images also) randomly assembled from the vast collection of such images the artist had collected since the 1970s. As such the near 1,000 pictures are meant to represent mankind - with no information about the subjects whatsoever. In many ways Boltanski's objective recording of such anonymous people reflects a view of history and life that has no judgement - in fact, no morality - as one does not know if the person one is looking at is villain or hero, victim or predator, alive or dead (although probably dead given the statistics of life).
This is regarded as one of Boltanski's most important artist's books although it is really a summary of all that he had done before in this realm of appropriation photography.
The book has the following tale as a sort of foreword in German:
"Der große Rabbi von Lodz lag im Sterben,
umgeben von seinen Anhängern.
Der Jüngste , Benjamin , wollte dem Sterbenden
noch eine letzte Frage stellen . Er fragte ihn : „ Was ist das Leben ?
“ Der große Rabbi antwortete : „ Das Leben!
Das Leben ist eine Quelle.“
Dieser Satz wurde von den Anwesenden
mit großer Zufriedenheit
und Respekt aufgenommen,
mit Ausnahme von Benjamin,
der erwiderte : „ Was ? Das Leben ist eine Quelle?
“ Da hörte man den großen Rabbi sagen: „ Was ?
Das Leben ist keine Quelle?
“ Das waren seine letzten Worte."
Which we translate as:
The great Rabbi of Lodz was dying
surrounded by his followers.
The youngest, Benjamin, wanted the dying man
ask one last question. He asked him, “What is life? "
The great rabbi replied:" Life!
Life is a source.“
That sentence was spoken by those in attendance
received with great satisfaction and respect,
with the exception of Benjamin, who replied, “What? Is life a source?"
Then one heard the great rabbi say:" What?
Life is not a source? “Those were his last words.
Boltanski's ambiguity to the fate or having more knowledge of the subjects of these images is reflected in that tale.
There are some issues with condition of this copy - the front cover has been bent vertically and some pages are a little badly folded internally due to poor printing but overall it is just under VG. Now scarce.
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Obala: Art Centar Sarajevo, 1994
10.2 x 15.5cm, 2pp announcement card with a shadow sculpture installation view in b/w on the front and verso museum details. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
16.5 x 10cm, 24pp plus endpapers and card wrappers with printed dustjacket. Nine works offered as a "proposal for a forest" which were installed in time for the 1995 State Garden Show at Landesgartenschau, Grevenbroich. The various interventions in the landscape mostly take quotations from German classical literature and place them on benches, tree plaques, wooden signposts and other appropriate interventions. Paintings by Ron Costley above descriptions by Finlay.
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Zurich: Museum der Stadtentwasserung, 1994 15 x 10.5cm, 2pp announcement card for a group show which included Boltanksi, Fischli & Weiss, Gette, Gilbert & George, Holler, Haacke, Kaprow, Kelly, Muhl, Richter, Spero, Slominski, and others. VG+. ...
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
8.7 x 6.3cm, 4pp card printed blue on white. Internal to the card is a shaped text that resembles a rounded tree - much like the post-impressionist work of Emile Bernard to which this is noted to be an homage. The text reads: "linen coif in the shape of a cloud l'ecole de Pont-Aven Hommage a Emile Bernard." A coif is a hat (usually a woman's) and often found in the post-impressionist paintings of nuns (especially in Gaugan) and in Bernard's paintings of Breton women - the word shapes resemble such a garment. VG+.
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