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....

05 Dec

Posted at 19:00h in Letters + Documents

30 x 21cm, 1pp original carbon copy on typing paper. A copy of a letter sent by Finlay to the publishing house Thames and Hudson.
Finlay claims that Thames and Hudson consider him to be anti-semite. He identifies this having arisen from Finlay submitting a book on Albert Speer's Spandau garden for publication. Finlay claims the publisher's stance is because of their "anti-Speerism" and Finlay says that recently deceased Albert Speer was a "dear friend". Finlay then posits a long and detailed argument that the publishers had entered the debate by stressing their jewishness when he had not. Finlay then attacks specifically Nikos Stangos who was an employee of T&H. Finlay claims he was initially enthusiastic about the Speer book then changed his mind suddenly. He is charged with acting unprofessionally and altering his position only after T&H rejected Finlay publicly.
Finally Finlay threatens legal action.
This is a difficult letter as Finlay's argument is a sophisticated one - on the surface attacking jewishness is evidence of being anti-semite but Finlay argues he only raised T&H jewish roots after they brought the public's attention to it and therefore it was an area of debate that was legitimate. The letter is borderline sophistry - it is clear that Finlay was not anti-semitic or nazi - but his willingness to defend people near to the National Socialist Party like Speer opened him up to attack. Some of those attacks were very biased and unfair (one can see deliberate misrepresentation in Catherine Millet for instance) but it is perhaps understandable how some might misunderstand Finlay's position.

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