Ian Hamilton Finlay - Unoriginal Sins

30 Dec NATIONAL FLAGS SERIES: ARCADIA. 1975.

Posted at 13:19h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975.
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp. The second of four "National Flags" created by Finlay - here a green rectangle with a skull and crossbones top left. Arcadia, was of course, a rural utopia, a place of perfection but in its most famous form it is in the Poussin painting ET ARCADIA EGO where a crypt is found with the inscription carved on it. It is a reminder of humanity's fate to die no matter how wonderful the life one lives. The "pirate" symbol here has the same function although the flag taken as a whole would suggest the viewer should be cautious. Finlay has created many words based on the Poussin. VG+

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20 Dec HOMAGE TO MAX BILL. WILD HAWTHORN WEAPONS SERIES. 1974

Posted at 13:26h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975.
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. Artist's postcard with a b/w image of an Oerlikon cannon set above a text in English, German and French, about the siting of sculptures:
"Poised against a natural background of vegetation, sculpture can inform the landscape or a garden with a new and tranquillising significance which the beholder finds spontaneously communicated to himself."
Apart from the ironies of "tranquillising" and "spontaneously communicated" when referring to a faster than sound weapon system are dark humour, this is one of Finlay's many cards that show weapons hidden in countryside (hence a reference to the Poussin painting "Et in Arcadia Ego") but also is a "homage" to Max Bill the designer and architect in that the gun's hard edges has similarities to certain works by him and in that the quote is from one of his books on architectural theory.. VG+.

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30 Nov SWANS. 1974.

Posted at 15:03h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1974.
6 x 24cm, 4pp (printed internally with asymmetric fold such that part of the card is hidden until opened). Artist's postcard with a drawing by Ron Costley of seven swans - the first 6 are made up from number "2"s and the hidden last one is a "7". A visual poem. VG+.

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17 Nov BOBBIN. 1974.

Posted at 15:12h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1974.
8.7 x 11.7cm, 4pp. Artist's card with a painting by Karl Torok of a Finlay cotton-reel (also known as a bobbin) tank (a well known way of children to make such toys). The title also refers to the Churchill Bobbins tanks (the bobbin from the reel that was found at the front of these tanks which laid tracks or bridges) although the model here is not accurate to the latter's design. VG+.

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16 Oct BOOKMARK. 1974.

Posted at 15:17h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1974.
12.6 x 4.7cm, 1pp. Black on blue bookmark with a drawing by Laurie Clark - at the top a ship with seven sails ( a schooner) which despite all of the masts is still only a "Lone Sail" and then an illustration of a double sundial which has been also denoted here as a "schooner" because similarity of the multiple gnomons to multiple sails. VG+

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08 Oct DEFINITIONS OF LAWNS (2). 1974.

Posted at 15:22h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1974.
6.5 x 1.7cm, 6pp. Black on white printed on one side only. The folded card shows on the front an elevation (drawn by Michael Harvey) of a U-Boat conning tower which when the card is opened is additionally shown in end elevation to be a sculpture on grass (a cow is standing next to the structure) and on the final panel a title text and the sub-heading - "Plan for projected U-boat sculpture". VG+.

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03 Oct THE LAST NORFOLK WHERRY. 1974.

Posted at 15:28h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1974.
9.5 x 5cm, 12pp (single folded sheet). Black on cheap green card with the text: "Who owned the last Norfolk Wherry" and if the card is turned ninety degrees the answer is given as "Messrs. Woods, Sadd & Moore". and a repeated drawing by Michael Harvey. The card (the least attractive, or interesting that Finlay made to our opinion) regards the loss of the wherry boats that used to be found on the Norwich Broads. Messrs. Woods, Sadd & Moore were barley and seed merchants and Finlay finds the partners' names to be evocative of the countryside and a lost past. VG+.

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27 Sep HARLEQUINN. 1974.

Posted at 15:39h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1974.
9.9 x 9.9cm, 2pp. A diamond pattern is reproduced in pink and grey. The title refers to the brightly patched or patterned character from commedia dell'arte and Finlay was interested in the paintings of Picasso where such characters were portrayed. Finlay in other works such as La Belle Hollondaise (itself a Picasso painting) displays patches as the main elements in the work: a patch is a repair to save something from being destroyed and in the poet's works is an icon of love or care. VG+.

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20 Sep THE MEXICAN NAVY. 1974.

Posted at 15:52h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1974.
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp. Artist postcard with two drawings by Martin Fidler) which are similar to those jokes often seen in children's comics. The first is "The Mexican Navy - and the image could be seen as both a carrier with circling aircraft and wave AND a sombrero. the second drawing is similar and entitled Sombraero (an alternative spelling of the hat) where the planes appear to be crashing onto the carrier. VG+.

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07 Sep SNOW SAIL DROP FLAKE. 1974.

Posted at 17:54h in Artist's Books

N.p. (Nailsworth): Moschatel Press, 1975
10.2 x 5.7cm, 4pp green outer cover and bound in (string) is a folded white sheet with the vertical four word text "SNOW SAIL DROP FLAKE". A visual poem with the double meaning of the fall of a sail (a Snow is also a type of boat) and the fall of a snow flake. VG+ . Rather scarce.
JOINT:
Original printed envelope.

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28 Aug SCHIFF*. 1974. ONE OF 350 SIGNED & NUMBERED COPIES.

Posted at 15:58h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1974.
12.7 x 77cm, 8pp. Artist card which opens out to show a calligraphic design using the German word for ship (Schiff) which is printed black and blue in reflection to give the impression of a boat on water (with the fold being the water level). A lovely graphic by Ron Costley who was one of Britain's greatest typographers and one of Finlay's longest lasting collaborators. One of 350 signed and numbered copies. VG+.

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12 Aug “A CALM IN A TEA-CUP”. AFTER KATE GREENAWAY. 1973.

Posted at 16:05h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1973.
16.5 x 13.5cm, 4pp. Artist card which shows a painting by Richard Demarco after a well known and loved slightly kitsch painting by Kate Greenaway of the same title that shows two young women cavorting in a tea cup. Finlay has had Demarco replace the women with a sailing boat (a calm). The Greenaway is a joke based on the saying "storm in a tea cup". This is a hugely popular card by Finlay which appeals to many who have no idea of any other work by the poet. VG+.
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