Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
12.6 x 5.6cm, 4pp card which reads:
plover
plower
and an arrow that indicates the date "spring 98" inside the card.
The card describes a country scene from the early year.
This card has "love from Ian" written in pencil by Finlay on the back of the card. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
10 x 14.6cm, 1pp card which reads:
bread-and-butter
carvel or clinker
pan or plain
The first two alternatives are choices between hull types, the last a choice between ways of making bread in Scotland (which refers back to the first of the pairings. By the way plain bread is much nicer than the pan. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
9.2 x 12.6cm, 4pp card with a colour photograph of a collection of marine artefacts collated by Robert Callender. The title of the card being a double meaning of both good news and of items found at low tide. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
5.4 x 13.4cm,8pp card (concertina folded from the top) with three drawings of battleships by Gary Hincks. The three are Ajax, Exeter and Achilles. These were the three ships that attacked the German Graf Spee at the Battle of Little Plate and while losing the battle in many ways, forced the larger ship to flee under smoke. The attack was herioc and Finlay compares the attack to Greek attacks in the Iliad where Ajax and Achilles are main characters. VG+.
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London: Anthony d'Offay, 1998
15 x21cm, 4pp typographic announcement card for a solo exhibition. VG+
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
10.5 x 7.6cm, 4pp card which reads
doves
dhows
distance
dhows
drifting
doves
On the back of the card Finlay explains "A winter scene is set down in six words, two of which occur twice." A dhow is a middle eastern boat.VG+.
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Paris: Yvon Lambert, 1998 21 x 15cm, 2pp announcement card for the signing event for the artist's book Ensembles. VG+. ...
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
5.5 x 21cm, 1pp typographic card which reads PLOUGH-RED/HARROW-RED/LOEB-RED. The farming of the land is compared with the bright red dust cover colour of the "Loeb" edition of Virgil's Eclogues and Georgics, poems that deal with agriculture . VG+.
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Paris: Editions 9 février, 1997
24 x 18cm, unpaginated plus printed boards - all bound in a thick metal spiral. A joint artists' book in which Jacques Roubaud takes three of Boltanski's "list" books (The work people of Halifax, Liste des Suisses morts dans le Canton du Valais en 1991 and Liste des artistes ayant participe a la Biennale de Venice 1895 - 1995) and utlising different arbitrary rules re-orders the names into 99 different lists.
This is followed by a number of unidentified portraits of people printed on semi-transparent paper which are split into three sections allowing parts of the faves to be rearranged to create "new" portraits. In some manner this latter re-organisation of the facial features reflects Roubaud's re-categorisation.
The cover displays the two artists but with their portraits cut up and recombined to create a new image. VG+. ...
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
7.6 x 23.8cm, 4pp card with a drawing of a boat by Gary Hincks. The reference is to Briton Riviere an Edwardian painter who often painted the "chaloupes" of the Breton sardine fishery (form of rowing boat with sails) - here the boat is marked with a boat registration "C". Finlay also made a wooden sculpture with this theme. VG+.
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43 x 57 x 15cm, stone with red paint. Executed in 1998. Unique sculpture with a relief image displaying the sails of a boat that has been “patched”. This work relates to similar works by Finlay including postcards and prints where the patching of a sail is compared to that of a poor person’s clothing - but also references Picasso’s harlequins with their colourful divisions of clothing and patches on windmill sails. The work was created for IHF after his instruction by Andrew Whittle.
The work comes with the original custom made painted wood stand and base - c. 150 x 65 x 20cm.
Previously exhibited at
Barcelona, Fundacio Joan Miró, 'Ian Hamilton Finlay: Variations on Different Themes', February - March 1999
St Ives, Tate St Ives, 'Ian Hamilton Finlay, Maritime Works', March - June 2002
Edinburgh, Ingleby Gallery, 'Ian Hamilton Finlay', June - July 2009
Purchased from Frank and Lorna Dumphy Collection via auction and prior sale from the artist to the collection via Ingleby Gallery in 2001
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
23.7 x 23.2cm, 4pp. Folding card (one of the largest published by Finlay) with a drawing by Gary Hinks of falling leaves. The pattern of the leaves is an exact placement of the letters in the original Apollinaire Calligramme Il Pleut from 1918 where the words are allowed to fall like rain. This "variation" on the work is transposed to represent Fall when the trees shed their foliage. Released by Finlay as a Christmas card. VG+
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