Ardgay, Ross-shire; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1966
26 x 21cm, 8pp. The eighteenth number of Finlay’s poetry publication - this number dedicated to Ad Reinhardt (using his writings and script) and designed by Bridget Riley. The recurrent motif is a large black 0. VG+ condition.
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London: Chelsea School of Art, 1966
16.4 x 15.9cm. One of Finlay’s earliest paper sculptures - a fold out card publication jointly designed with and printed by Ed Wright at Chelsea School of Art. This is the red version: black print on red card. VG condition. Murray 5.3.
There were three variations - blue, yellow and red each printed black. These are now every hard to find.
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London: Chelsea School of Art, 1966
16.4 x 15.9cm. One of Finlay’s earliest paper sculptures - a fold out card publication jointly designed with and printed by Ed Wright at Chelsea School of Art. This is the yellow version: black print on yellow card. VG condition. Murray 5.3.
There were three variations - blue, yellow and red each printed black. These are now every hard to find.
...
London: Chelsea School of Art, 1966
16.4 x 15.9cm. One of Finlay’s earliest paper sculptures - a fold out card publication jointly designed with and printed by Ed Wright at Chelsea School of Art. This is the blue version: black print on blue card. VG condition. Murray 5.3.
There were three variations - blue, yellow and red each printed black. These are now every hard to find.
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Paris: Galerie Tournesol, 1965
21 x 13.5cm, 2pp hand typed letter from Boltanski on Galerie du Tournesol letterhead paper to M. Berg explaining that the painting purchased by Berg has been sent to him and details on payment. Boltanski also says how much he is looking forward to meeting Berg in the new year.
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Copenhague: Berg, 9 Decembre 1965
30 x 21cm, 2pp. Original carbon copy of a typed and signed letter from M Berg indicating he was interested in acquiring one of the paintings by Ramon however the images sent by Boltanski do not show the colours. He also notes he is coming to Paris and will meet Boltanski and look at works in person including a painting by Romero.
This letter has some notes in red ink.
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Dusseldorf: Galerie Schmela, 1965
15 x 21cm, 4pp announcement card with a b/w image of Beuys pretending to be asleep on a lump of fat. This was the artist's first exhibition/performance in a private gallery and where he explained art to a "dead hare" by showing all of the 38 works (all listed here) to the corpse while miming the dead animal's movements. This is a VG+ example of a scarce early invite card.
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Paris: Galerie Tournesol, 1965
21 x 13.5cm, 2pp hand typed letter from Boltanski on Galerie du Tournesol letterhead paper to M. Berg replying to the latter's letter of 19 Nov 1965, discussing a painting that Berg was interested in buying. Boltanski claims in "the Possible Life of Christian Boltanski" that his father told his mother they had better open a gallery together to allow their son to learn how to be an artist. The Gallery sold only Jiddish art but clearly Boltanski's interest in the avant garde made the chosen artists a little more radical. The motivation for starting the gallery is probably not true (like many of Boltanski's tales it is more than likely deliberately false) but he ran the venture from 1965 until 1968.
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Copenhague:Berg, 19 Novembre 1965
21 x 14.8cm, 4pp (but only one side is utilised). Original carbon copy of a typed and signed letter from M Berg noting he received the Ramon painting and that he has sent a cheque for 600fr. He asks for some photographs of works by Ramero before his visit to Paris.
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n.p. : The Wild Flounder Press, 1962
11.7 x 17cm, 32pp. Card wrappers with blue on brown typographic design dust jacket. Finlay's third book of poems - as with other early Finlay poetry the language is Scots with touches of Doric. The poems all relate to animals and other creatures ("inseks" and a "fush") and there are papercuts by John Picking and Pete McGinn. This is the fifth edition of this book and the orientation and design of the dust jacket has been changed. There is a hand written ink dedication on the half title "For Paul (Robertson) Pette McGinn / 05". VG+ condition.
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Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1965
22.8 x 11.3cm, 4pp. Inner pages are black, text is only on front and back of card.
The text is printed blue on the front of the card and yellow on the back. The text is as follows:
how blue!
how far!
how sad!
how small!
how white!
and the back is the same only the ! is replaced by a question mark.
The front of the card is an exclamation about the experience of looking at things - the sky is blue, it is far away, it seems sad (blue) and yet small and white (clouds). The back by a simple change of punctuation indicates doubt.
The title of the card references the Russian artist Kasimir Malevich and the name he gave to the abstract art he developed from 1913 characterised by basic geometric forms and colours. The world is a simple place it seems to say.
This is the last of Finlay's earliest Standing Poems - he turned to publishing more standard formats of postcards for a while but returned later with D1 and the 4 sails works to the format.
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Paris: Ramon Gallery du Tournesol, 1965
21 x 13.4cm, outer folder with stapled in 4pp title page and a 6pp fold out "Ordre de Mobilisation" designed by the artist. Exhibition catalogue at the gallery where Boltanski was the co-ordinator/curator. The back of the booklet reproduces a silkscreen portrait in white of the artist's grandfather when he was in the military and the front a letter from his to his wife dated 26 December 1914.
VG+. Very scarce.
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