05 Jun

Posted at 17:33h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
10.4 x 14.8cm, 2pp. Red and brown on white silkscreen card - the drawing by Ron Costley is of a tall mast ship with three large sails - two of which have vertical stripes.
The title refers to the Christmas carol with the opening verse "I saw three ships come sailing in/ On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day/I saw three ships come sailing in/On Christmas Day in the morning"
It is not quite clear Finlay's intent here but there are three distinct main masts to the ship. The song is much argued over - given Bethlehem's long distance from the sea then the three ships are presumably metaphors for perhaps the camels of the magi or some other trio, but by the same poeetic process the three ships can be metaphors for the ship's masts here although it is a bit strange having three ships become one. VG+.

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24 May

Posted at 11:49h in PRINTS

Paris: Chorus, 1971 17.4 x 34.7cm offset cartridge paper with a text: "essai de reconstitution effectué par christian boltanski le 24 mai 1971 d'un tableau peint par Jacques Monory en mars 1971 d'après des documents photographiques pris le 7 novembre 1970 au parc de saint-cloud." above which is an original b/w silver gelatine photograph tipped on. The image is a reconstruction of an earlier event that Boltanski's friend Monory had held in November 1970 and turned into an artwork. Boltanski recreated the work with different participants (other than Annette Messager). Signed and numbeed in pencil by Boltanski from an edition of 120 copies. VG+ JOINT: Paris: Chorus, 1971 17.4 x 34.7cm offset printed blue and black duotone - the original image created by Monory from the picnic on 7 November 1970 in the Parc de Saint-Cloud. There are differences from the original to Boltanski's attempt to recreate (for example the child in the right foreground carrying a long stick). This is one of 120 examples also signed and numbered by Monory. However this work has found behind broken glass and there are a number of surface scratches on the print. ...

17 May

Posted at 17:32h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Paris: Opus International, 1971
27 x 18cm, 136pp plus card covers. A single number of this art journal which has an original Boltanski pagework - Recit-Souvenir - a text with three associated photographs.
The text typed by Boltanski gives a history of the artist's grandparents and how they come to live in Paris.
The photographs claim to be of the grandmother aged 3, a samovar that she supposedly stole from her house when she ran away from Odessa to be with David Boltanski (the grandfather) and a modern photograph of the house they lived in. As ever the veracity of all of that information is impossible to be sure of. VG although the glue in the perfect binding has started to peel after nearly 50 years.
Reference: Flay Catalogue Page 56.

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11 May

Posted at 17:31h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
10.5 x 14.8cm, 2pp. Blue on white - a design for a wall ceramic drawn by Ron Costley. The concrete poem points to the similarities between the billowing sails and the sea's waves - it is very similar to the previous Sail/Waves 1 card but the line drawing is not in negative and the drawing has minor redesigned elements. Other than tiles Finlay also used this design in other works. VG+.

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10 May

Posted at 17:31h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
10.5 x 14.8cm, 2pp. Light blue on white - a design for a wall ceramic drawn by Ron Costley. The concrete poem points to the similarities between the billowing sails and the sea's waves . Other than tiles Finlay also used this design in other works. VG+.

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08 May

Posted at 22:33h in Invitation Cards

Sunderland: Ceolfrith Press, 1971
25.2 x 20.5cm, 1pp. Offset lithographic leaflet and announcement with one large concrete poem RING/INS 235 presumably by Finlay (not reproduced anywhere else). Very rare. Murray has this under Miscellaneous but we have recategorised it as an announcement.

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08 May

Posted at 19:32h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Malmo: New Eter, 1971
29 x 23cm, printed envelope content of five internal loose sheets -- each 27 x 21.5. 1pp. The Boltanski contribution is a printed offset image of the adult artist bending over showing here his bed was situated in his room for the first nine years of this life.
Other sheets have original contributions by Paul-Armand Gette (Photograph of a tree stump and its exact location), le Gac - a written text, and Ben Vautier - an original found photograph of women practicing fencing which is stamped Ben Vautier certifies this to be a work of Flux Art (each copy had a different photograph). The final sheet is a colophon with a business card stapled to the card sheet and nothing else.
All fine although there is a slight mark from the staple on the colophon on Boltanski's contribution - all in VG+ envelope. A scarce item. Reference: Flay Boltanski Catalogue Page 54.

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07 May

Posted at 20:50h in Artist's Books

NYC/Koln: Something Else Press, 1971,
157.5 x 12,5cm, 18pp (recto only) plus cover. An artist's book with silkscreens on thick card with interleaving pages and paper back cover (which is often missing because of its fragility). Three ring bindings. A series of visual and concrete poems by Finlay illustrated by Gordon Huntly. For example: 4 Sailing Drifters anre listed as Nobby, Nickey, Lily and Cloud - which Finlay finds an attractive grouping possibly just because of the vocalised rhythm. There is no real theme to the selection of works - this is indeed a "miscellany". One of 1,000 issued - this is in VG+ condition although the metal rings as always show flecks of rust.

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07 May

Posted at 20:32h in Artist's Books

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
15 x 11cm, 12pp (printed recto only with three silkscreened images on thick stock) plus wrappers and pictorial dj - artist's book with lovely colourful small drawings by Gardner above texts by Finlay. A brown sailed tall ship has the legend "An orchard of russets" above its appropriate name Appledore. A brown bottomed boat is a "Rococo walnut" because of its obvious seams, a fur tree is a "pinnate evergreen" which in turn is identified as the sea. One of 300 copies numbered and signed by Finlay on the colophon. VG+.

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07 May

Posted at 20:05h in Artist's Books

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1972
8 x 13cm, 12pp plus wrappers and pictorial dj - artist's book with two silkscreen images - the first is the text EVENING/SAIL in blue letters and the "/" in red - the second is the same but each letter but not the back slash replaced by blue dots. Typography and design by Michael Harvey. The disappearing letters indicating that the ship has gone home leaving only the mast to be seen far off on the horizon. A beautifully simple work which may also be seen as a momento mori much like the print "Evening wil come they sew the blue sale" - see elsewhere in the print section of this collection. One of 300 signed and numbered copies in VG+ condition.

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05 May

Posted at 16:53h in EPHEMERA

Venice: Galerie De La Salle, n.d. (1971)
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp b/w postcard issued as an edition during the group show "Les Paravents" held in Venice. On the front is the well known work where the artist shows two photographs of himself side by side with a gap of 5 years and three months between them. He looks older of course, time is disappearing as is his life. VG+. Scarce.

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