14 May

Posted at 11:52h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
11 x 10.8 x 2cm card slipcase content of two volumes - both 10.5 x 10.6cm and unpaginated. Printed card covers. The first volume consists of the names of boats followed by unprinted coloured pages such that the painted colours of the actual boat are displayed serially. The second volume follows the first in that the same boats are listed (without identification) but now with the words of the boat colours printed in a large font. The boat names are repeated at the end of the book. For some reason this is reminiscent of some Sol Lewitt books in its conception but it also recalls earlier Finlay publications that are often referred to as "kinetic" eg OCEAN STRIPE SERIES 3.
One of only 250 printed. VG+

...

06 May

Posted at 22:03h in Monographs & Essays

Brough Park: Saint Paulinus, 1998
21 x 15cm, 28pp plus card covers and dust jacket. Short monograph on Finlay's La Revolution est un bloc sculpture - an axe is buried in a wooden (in actuality bronze) block with the title text. The axe has a blue, red and white ribbon on the handle. Essay by Harry Gilonis. Full colour image and another work - 4 Blades also reproduced. VG+.

...

06 May

Posted at 17:56h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
10.4 x 14.5cm, 1pp artist's card with two texts in a black oval:

The homeward star
The stitching sail

The homeward sail
The stitching star

Finlay notes the words "homeward star: occur in Samuel Palmers translation of Virgil's First Eclogue.
This card transposes the star and sail to alter the meaning of each phrase - a relatively common device used by Finlay in his poetry. The stitching sale being the way a sailor might be stitched into a sail when he died, the homeward sail being a reference to the end of life as well as a returning boat (again another Finlay trope). Both lines are momento mori. VG+.

...

29 Apr

Posted at 19:57h in Letters + Documents

21 x 20cm, 1pp xerox copy of two letters to the Scotsman with the headline " SAINT-JUST'S SCOTTISH CONNECTION" . the first letter from Hamish Henderson after noting a document that directly links Saint-Just to Scottish affairs of the 1790s but goes on to scoff at the idea that Finlay is a Nazi. The other letter is from Alexander Stoddart on behalf of the Saint-Just Vigilantes again in support of Finlay. This was a xerox copied by Finlay and distributed to friends and supporters in his regular mail-outs as was his habit.

...

20 Apr

Posted at 17:48h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
10.5 x 21.5cm, 4pp artist's card with a drawing by Gary Hincks of the long line of hooked lines (called a spray) used in Thonier French fishing. The image also has the overall look of water spraying. This card has a lengthy ink note from Gary Hincks to Janet Boulton (both Finlay collaborators) pointing out the work is a "twin" of her work "Thonier". Hincks writes: "it is a rod with lines and hooks from the Breton "Thonier: (tuna fishing boat). The rod is raised - as here when sailing out to the fishing grounds." VG+.

...

18 Apr

Posted at 17:11h in Invitation Cards

London: Serpentine Gallery, 1998
21 x 14cm, 2pp. Invitation card for a major installation at the entrance to the Serpentine Gallery. The commission is a circular ground work at the entrance (as well as a garden installation on benches and tree plaques). The work is illustrated on the front. VG+.
JOINT:
London: Serpentine Gallery, 1998
30 x 21cm, 1pp. Letter from Julia Peyton-Jones addressed to Finlay's collaborator Janet Boulton inviting her to the celebration for the installation. VG+.

...

01 Apr

Posted at 17:41h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
11 x 14cm, 2pp artist's card with a painting by Janet Boulton reproduced on the front. The title notes the similarities of a boat to a lemon (something often noted by Finlay) and the cargo here is a mass of oranges. VG+.

...

19 Mar

Posted at 17:33h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
10.5 x 13.5cm, 1pp black on blue card which refers to a Vickers-Supermarine Walrus "evoked in W F. Jackson Knight's Aenid" as an oarage of wings. The image is that of how oars move in the water looking similar to wings. The airplane was a reconnaissance biplane that could land on water and Montague writes of the oarage of the wings of a great bird. VG+.

...

09 Mar

Posted at 21:43h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1995 11 x 8cm, 8pp plus card covers. Artist's book with two poems by Finlay that share a similar structure:

willow
dogwood
daylily
azalea


hiding



and



daisy
foxglove
harebell
dog-rose


presencing



The first list of plants are all cultivated, the second list is made up of plants that are usually regarded as weeds or wild. Finlay in a note directs us to C.R. Carswell's Life of Robert Burns, page 452 - where while Burns is dying:

"And though it was too late in the year for some of his favourite plants to be in blossom, she and the boys found daisies and foxgloves and harebells and some late dog-roses." which account for the second list of flowers. VG+....

Shopping cart0
There are no products in the cart!
Continue shopping