06 Jan

Posted at 22:13h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987
7.1 x 10.5cm, 8pp and card covers along with printed brown dust jacket. The artist's book has a visual poem:

cottage
loaves

loaf
cottages

and there is a drawing by Howard Eaglestone and a photo-montage by Antonia Reeve.
The texts by reversing the words create first an image of squat country houses (brown and russet red as when painted by Paul Cezzane) and then a loaf with the shape of a solid loaf. The illustrations reflect those two poetic images. VG+.

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27 Dec

Posted at 22:03h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
18.3 x 12cm, 20pp and card covers along with flower pattern dust jacket and printed tipped on label. The full title of the book is "Detached Sentences on Weather In The Manner of William Shenstone".
Shenstone was not only an 18th century poet but also an influential early estate gardener. The texts are a series of aphorisms by Finlay which are presumably in the style of the earlier poet and all consider the importance of the weather - a subject very important to both gardeners and British people. Two examples of these sayings are:

"The Late Night Shipping Forecast is a kind of High Church Weather Service for radio listeners."
Or
"The Greeks before Troy feared hostile weather as much as hostile Trojans."

One of only 200 such books printed at Christmas as presents to friends and colleagues. Two small vignettes by Jo Hincks. VG+.

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20 Dec

Posted at 21:47h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
5.5 x 8.6cm, printed outer folder content of sixteen 5.5 x 8.6cm, 1pp cards printed black on deep blue. Each card is attack of the hack art critic Waldemar Januszczak who had upset the poet by giving him a poor review (Finlay also fell out with the priggish and ignorant Brian Sewell for which I love the poet even more). The cards all attack with vigour the Guardian' pet critic - "Being outspoken was his claim to shame" is one example. Finlay wounds. Januszczak later tried to retaliate with his own cards (see elsewhere in this collection for those items) but all they did was to parody Finlay's style of attack and frankly failed to hit the target (one has an image of a man giving a Hitler salute - actually taken from early Anselm Kiefer - which is crass). These cards are in VG+ condition in like folder.

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20 Apr

Posted at 20:22h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
11 x 9cm, 20pp plus overside printed card wrappers. Quotations from Hereclitus are used to illuminate the missile attack on HMS Sheffield on 4 May 1982. The classical words all regard the transformation of water and air into fire - which ends with the quote "Exocet steers all." which is the line about Zeus - "Lightning steers all" but with the name of the missile replacing the God's weapon of choice. Finally a polarised image of the horrific attack on the warship is reproduced in b/w. VG+.

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20 Mar

Posted at 17:51h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
7.6 x 8cm, printed outer folder content of six 7.6 x 8cm, 1pp cards. Each card has a drawing of a guillotine blade by Hincks with a quotation on it such as:
"The government of the Revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny. Terror is an emanation of virtue."
by Robespierre. Other quotes are from Denis Diderot, Nicolas Poussin and from Finlay himself who writes:
"Terror is the piety of the Revolution".
Finlay saw The Terror as in some sense pure - which was not an acceptance of the acts of the despots but a metaphysical impression of the firm beliefs of the Terrorists as being virtuous. The guillotine is often an image used in Finlay's works that stands for that purity as well as the fear and evil of man. VG+.
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20 Sep

Posted at 17:15h in Artist's Books

Firenze: Exempla/Exit Lugo 1985
8.9 x 31.7cm, 28pp (printed recto only) and printed white wrappers with printed dustjacket.
Artist's book with 8 colour typographic works by Finlay and Ron Costley. The texts are word combinations such as SEAPINK or STRAWBERRYCAMOUFLAGE- which have multiple meanings in part because of the lack of any spaces between the words. The works reproduced here were all released as much larger edition prints by the Wild Hawthorn Press but this book was an edition with Maurizio Nannuci in Italy himself a well known concrete and experimental poet (and artist). This is one of the deluxe copies - 150 signed and numbered by Finlay by hand in greem ink. VG+.

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18 Mar

Posted at 10:32h in Artist's Books

London: Barbarian Press, 1985
32 x 21cm, 12pp (rough edged paper) plus card covers and printed dustjacket. Letterpress printed. Artist;s book which has 80 epigrams and aphorisms by Finlay on a wide range of issues. There are four on concrete poetry, for instance,:

The Muse of concrete poetry reverse Mnemosyne's gift: depriving the poet of song, she gave him sweet eyesight.

Concrete poetry was less a visual than a silent poetry.

The conrete poets regarded language itself as rhetorical.

COncrete poems were thought childish because they were seen but not heard."

This is a charming and musing book with no central theme so can be dipped into at random. It was one of only 150 numbered copies. VG+.
Strangely Murray has this book twice in his catalogue raisonne - once in 1981 (which is erroneous) and again in 1985 - which is correct.

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15 Dec

Posted at 17:01h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1984
14 x 9.7cm, 48pp (printed recto only) and printed white wrappers.
Artist's book with 16 quotations from Hagel paired with other classical and modern quotations from Hereclitus, Wittgenstein, Zeno, Coleridge, Pythagorus and Finlay himself. The conjoining of the tests brings new meaning to the Hegelian bon mots. This was a Christmas publication from the Press which was often sent out as gifts to friends and colleagues - this copy has a handwritten dedication "Stuart from Ian as always". VG+.

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18 Mar

Posted at 19:12h in Artist's Books

Southampton: Southampton Art Gallery, 1984
21 x 14.8cm, 48pp plus printed wrappers with tipped on reproduced drawing. Offically an exhibition catalogue for a touring show and also a single number of the poetry and literature review New Arcadians - here dedicated to Finlay who wrote the text. The catalogue is illustrated throughout by Andrew Griffiths. The works all relate to the Little Sparta War as well as proposed artworks that are grounded in the Nazi iconography (as Finlay points out elsewhere these works do not support fascism - the symbolism of the Third Reich is powerful and can be detourned for good reasons by artists).
This is really an artist's book by Finlay and we are cataloguing it as such. One of 1000 hand-numbered copies. . VG+.

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17 Jun

Posted at 20:33h in Artist's Books

Belper: Aggie Weston's, 1983
25 x 20cm, 16pp plus card covers. Single number of Stuart Mill's publication which is in fact a Finlay artist's book with drawings by Rod Gathercole. Each page has a different abstract drawing of undergrowth and epigrams below - such as:
Camouflage proverb: If the bush fits, wear it. VG+

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20 May

Posted at 16:52h in Artist's Books

Edinburgh: Graeme Murray Gallery, 1983
20.2 x 12.7cm, 96pp and white wrappers and printed cream dust jacket
Artist's book with images of 20 small table top sculptures by Finlay along with quotations that explain the works. VG+.

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