paul robertson, Author at Unoriginal Sins

21 Aug BICENTENARY TEXTS. 1989.

Posted at 06:52h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1989
22 x 17.5cm, 20pp plus card wrappers and printed dust jacket. texts by Finlay are reproduced in English and French in a typographic only design. Later these works were reprinted as large posters and exhibited at the 369 Gallery in Edinburgh.

THE BLADE STAINED WITH BLOOD IS NO MORE THE FRENCH REVOLUTION THAND THE ALTAR STAINED WITH BLOOD IS GREECE AND ROME.

and

WE WILL VIEW THE FRENCH REVOLUTION MORE SYMPATHETICALLY IF WE SEE THAT THE FACTIONS REGARDS THEMSELVES AS SOVEREIGN NATIONALS IN A STATE OF WAR.

Finlay both admires the unerring purpose of the Terrorists / revolutionary and sees both the purity and the rot within at the same time. The French translations were by Yves Abrioux. VG+.

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20 Aug LA RESERVE DES SUISSE MORTS. 1989.

Posted at 19:54h in POSTERS

Bremen: Neues Museum Weserburg, 1989
84.3 x 59.5cm, full colour lithographic offset exhibition poster with an image of a Boltanski memorial work with biscuit tins and photographs. VG+.

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08 Aug ORDER IS REPETITION. 1989.

Posted at 17:43h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1989) 7.3 x 8.2cm, 4pp artist's card with two texts -

on the left "as in rat-a-0tat" and on the right "Order is repetition".

The card is "dedicated" to Yves Hayat who had been a friend to the artist but attacked him after the Catherine Millet accused Finlay of being fascistic because he included a swastika in one of his works. The rat-a-tat clearly references shooting from a machine gun - and (metaphorically) Hayat is being murdered by words. VG+. ...

27 Jul HANDWRITTEN NOTE ABOUT COLLABORATING WITH FINLAY BY PETER DAY. 27TH JULY 1989.

Posted at 19:33h in Letters + Documents

Ontario: Peter Day, 27 July 1989
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp card with printed logo and a hand-written note from Peter Day mentioning that he has included a set of 8 stickers and 2 texts works which he collaborated with Finlay on. "They were streetworks put up in appropriate locales on Bastille Day. They also serve as a vanguard of the Finlay show I'm doing that opens September 16th, 1989 in Toronto. More street works for that & an extensive publication documenting the "French Affair:. How are you & Andy Goldsworthy? Urgently await his material."
JOINT:
Unaddressed printed envelope with a design by Day.

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27 Jul L’AMI DU PEUPLE. 1989.

Posted at 16:55h in Prints + Posters

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1989
42. 29.7cm, full colour on white paper offset lithograph which parodies a typical cover of the somewhat bizarre Scottish publication - the People's Friend much beloved of grannies and well-wearing middle class knitters. The joke here is that Marat's poisonous journal that condemned indirectly so many people to the guillotine was called "L'ami du peuple". One of Finlay's more amusing works. Slight browning or possible minor foxing due to paper else VG.

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26 Jul SWALLOWS LITTLE MATELOTS. 1989.

Posted at 15:08h in Prints + Posters

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1989
59 x 59cm, blue on white silkscreen. The work is entirely typographical, the text - SWALLOWS LITTLE MATELOTS - hand-drawn by Michael Harvey. The font is light and sans serif - and the ease of line reminds one of the bird's flight against the blue sky. Additionally the Ws and Ms in the rhythmic drawing reflect the wings of these nimble birds. Finally the poet's words reminds everyone that these fabulously fast and social animals have similarities to sailors. A lovely print which in its simplicity deceives. VG+.

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24 Jul FETE CHAMPETRE. 1989.

Posted at 20:12h in Artist's Postcards

Edinburgh: Morning Star Publications, 1989
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp card. The card has a drawing by Stephen Duncalf of small aircraft parked on grass. A fete champetre is an outdoor entertainment (like a garden party) so the visual poem likens the rather makeshift airport to such an event. One of 1,000 copies printed. VG+. ...

22 Jul A MEMORY OF THE 90’S. 1989.

Posted at 11:05h in Poems in folders

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1989
10.5 x 8.2cm, 4pp purple outer folder. Internally a 10.5 x 8.2cm, 4pp sheet with a poem

A Memory of the 90's
exquisite bloater

The decade is being compared to a cured herring. Given the date of publication Finaly presumably is referring to the 1890s - a decade that sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade" because of William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion (and the folder here is indeed purple) and also as the "Gay Nineties" because of a perceived happiness despite the economic depression in the USA and elsewhere hence "exquisite". An "bloater" perhaps refers to the way such memories are dry and distant.
This was one of a series of "poems in folders". VG+.

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17 Jul BOOKMARKS. 1989. INCLUDES REPRINTS OF TREE (ARBRE) LEAF BARK.

Posted at 09:23h in Object + Paper Multiples

Edinburgh: Morning Star Publications, n.d. (1989)
A selection of seven different "bookmarks" by Lorine Niedecker, Thomas A. Clark, Basho (translated by Cid Corman), Cid Corman and four by Ian Hamilton Finlay. Two of the bookmars are reprints of earlier cards - Tree (Arbre) and Leaf bark - which are described elsewhere in this catalogue to which two additional cards are added both lists of "definitions" for words beginning with A: Affluence, Allotment, Angel, Apollo, Arcadia, Arrow and a relevant quote.
The edition size is not known. Morning Star Publications was the press set up by Finlay's son Eck (later Alex Finlay). While individually we have catalogued the earlier items as artist's postcards - here as a group we are identifying this as a paper multiple. All VG+. ...

14 Jul WHAT A GOVERNMENT IT IS, 1989.

Posted at 13:24h in Prints + Posters

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1989
42 x 30cm, red and black on white offset lithograph on satin paper. The text: "Planting trees of Liberty on the scaffold and placing death's scythe in the hands of the law." This was produced as a poster for the Saint-Just Vigilantes - is a epigram by Finlay on the unjust practices of the French revolution's Terror but a text that clearly Finlay felt could be equally applied to Strathclyde Region with whom he was in dispute over the rating of the Little Sparta Temple building - which they claimed was an art gallery, and Finlay claimed was a religious building. VG.

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14 Jul OH PARISIANS. 1989.

Posted at 13:18h in Prints + Posters

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1989
42 x 30cm, red and black on white offset lithograph on satin paper. The text is a lengthy quotation from Marat; the poisonous revolutionary journalist who condemned many to death via his pen during the Terror. The text is amusingly critical of the Parisian character - Marat might have been a bastard but he was a talented bastard. This print was produced as a poster for the Saint-Just Vigilantes - and by extension is a criticism of Strathclyde Region who had raided Finlay's farm and "stolen" under warrant sale various works from the Temple in a dispute over rates. VG.

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13 Jul INTO THE FOREST. 1989.

Posted at 19:11h in Proposals

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987 29.6 x 21cm, 4pp folded sheet with a proposal for a colour brick wall in green amongst a group of trees. Finlay takes the idea from Theocritus's Idylls "a line of green among the trees" and creates a work of land art in a modern garden in Athens. There is a drawing of the installation by Andrew Townsend. VG+. ...