Ian Hamilton Finlay - Unoriginal Sins

12 Jun NEUN VORSCHLAGE FUR EINEN WALD. 1994.

Posted at 18:33h in Proposals

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
16.5 x 10cm, 24pp plus endpapers and card wrappers with printed dustjacket. Nine works offered as a "proposal for a forest" which were installed in time for the 1995 State Garden Show at Landesgartenschau, Grevenbroich. The various interventions in the landscape mostly take quotations from German classical literature and place them on benches, tree plaques, wooden signposts and other appropriate interventions. Paintings by Ron Costley above descriptions by Finlay.

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09 Jun BRETONNIERE. 1994.

Posted at 16:22h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
8.7 x 6.3cm, 4pp card printed blue on white. Internal to the card is a shaped text that resembles a rounded tree - much like the post-impressionist work of Emile Bernard to which this is noted to be an homage. The text reads: "linen coif in the shape of a cloud l'ecole de Pont-Aven Hommage a Emile Bernard." A coif is a hat (usually a woman's) and often found in the post-impressionist paintings of nuns (especially in Gaugan) and in Bernard's paintings of Breton women - the word shapes resemble such a garment. VG+.

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06 Jun A PROPOSAL FOR THE GARDEN OF ARTHUR & CAROL GOLDBERG. 1994.

Posted at 11:12h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
7 x 14cm, 4pp (gatefold) the works is a text:

SOCIETY IS THE CURE FOR PRIDE, AND SOLITUDE FOR VANITY

which is a quotation by H. de Schelles (Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles who was a member of the Committee for Public Safety and an active Dantonist). Finlay proposes the work for a bench to sit between a grove of pine trees and a lake. The bench is meant to be a secluded place for active thought. VG+. ...

29 May OLSEN’S FISHERMAN’S NAUTICAL ALPHABET. 1994.

Posted at 20:18h in Prints + Posters

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
29.6 x 21cm, blue on white offset lithograph with a reworking of the universal A - Z alphabet - but the letters are all (except Q) replaced by boat port registration letter codes. VG+.

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06 May STREIFLICHTER. 1994.

Posted at 13:04h in Exhibition Catalogues

NYC: Nolan/Eckman Gallery, 1994
10.7 x 13.5cm, 28pp plus card covers, a red dust jacket and a tipped on title label. This book is subtitled "six Inscribed Fragments Concerning the French Revolution 1789 -- 1805. Six b/w photographs (by Antonia Reeve) of stone reliefs by Finlay are tipped on opposite a commentary by Siegfried Blasche and different quotations from Michelet . The commentaries can be seen as an adjunct to the works as they are not explained. Still an interesting book that is arguably an artists book as well as exhibition catalogue. On consideration we regard it as one of the latter.

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01 May SAINT SEBASTIAN. 1994. ADDRESSED BY FINLAY TO JANET BOULTON.

Posted at 15:07h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
15.5 x 9.1cm, 2pp card with a drawing by Gary Hincks of Saint Sebastian "martyred by liberals making "points".
One of Finlay's many pointed (like arrows) small publications aimed at his enemies both real and imagined. This example is hand addressed by Finlay to his friend and collaborator Janet Boulton. VG+.

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23 Apr TOO MANY LAWS TOO FEW EXAMPLES. 1994.

Posted at 11:58h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
5cm, dia. printed plastic with metal safety pin clasp. A lapel badge with the title text on it in white on red (the colour of blood). Issued in the year of the European elections the slogan alludes to Saint-Just's "Fewer laws, more examples" but here the over emphasis on "too many" rather and "fewer" refelcts Finlay's own experiences with Scottish local governmental restrictions. Limitation not known. VG+>

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22 Apr PORTRAIT OF IAN HAMILTON FINLAY IN LITTLE SPARTA. 1994.

Posted at 16:37h in Photographs

Essen: Werner J. Hannappel, 1994
17.8 x 24cm, b/w high gloss photograph of Finlay sitting in his conservatory. Taken for an exhibition in Hamburg - Works: Pure and Political, 1995. Probably a print sent to newspapers for use in publicity. Several labels on back for photographer and exhibition venue.

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22 Apr IMPENDING NAVIGATION BRIGHT. A CATCH OF POEMS ABOUT THE SHIPPING FORECAST. 1994. ONE OF 100 NUMBERED COPIES.

Posted at 09:07h in Page Works & Contributions

Edinburgh: Morning Star Press, 1994 21 x 15cm, gatefold outer orange folder content of a 18 x 12cm, 10pp (single folded sheet) with page contributions by Finlay, Gael Turnbull, Tessa Ransford, George MacKay Brown, Ian Stephen, Edwin Morgan, Peter Larkin, Richard Price, Peter Dent and a cover illustrated by Margot Sandeman with text by Bridget Penney. The shipping forecast is a nightly and morning broadcast on the BBC which tells the weather for shipping in the various seas around Great Britain but it has iconic status as many peopel who are not fishermen listen to it because the names of the various weather stations are somewhat poetic in themselves. Finaly here contributes a short work:<BR?
LATE NIGHT SHIPPING FORECAST

A shoal
of names
in nets
of rain

Where the weather station names are compared to a fishing catch held together by a net of rain.
The Morning Star Press was the publishing house of Alex Finlay son of Ian. One of 100 hand numbereed copies. Scarce. VG+. ...

10 Apr WILD ROSES/ROVE. 1994.

Posted at 10:39h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1994) 13.0 x 6.5cm, 4pp artist's card with a poem on the front:

wild roses

roses
roses

roses
rove

roses
reefed

Finlay explains that Rove here is a nautical term meaning led through and fastened (as in the case of a rope) and Reefed means to be shortened, taken in. The flowers are bunched and made into a bouquet in this visual poem. VG+. ...

09 Apr NOTICE DANGER. 1994.

Posted at 15:03h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
15.3 x 14cm, 4pp card which has internally a poem for SImon Cutts

DANGER
CORACLE
DOCKING

Cutts' publishing house was called Coracle (the name of a small one-person wood, canvas and pitch boat that is notoriously hard to steer and dock) and the back of the card notes "For Mr S. Cutts in acknowledgement of his recognitions". VG+.

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07 Apr 3 SAILBOATS. 1994.

Posted at 09:58h in Invitation Cards

London: Victoria Miro Gallery, n.d. (1994)
14 x 12.2cm, 4pp announcement card with a drawing of a boat on the front (by Gary Hincks?). Pia SImig is credited as a collaborator in this card - it is not clear what the work entailed. VG+. ...