London: Victoria Miro Gallery, 1990
21 x 15cm, 4pp. Original printed pink glossy wrappers . An exhibition catalogue with no illustrations only a commentary by Stephan Bann internally on the them of Idylls in Finlay's output with particular emphasis on the neo-classical works. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987 29.6 x 21cm, 4pp folded sheet with a proposal for a walled pool with "granite, water and white neon". Finlay notes "the proposed sculpture treats the building's entrance hall as an atrium: it brings the 'clouds' (in five languages, including Spanish) down through the distinctive tower and dome, to be reflected in the pool. There is a reproduced colour drawing of the pool in plan and in side by Andrew Townsend. VG+. ...
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, N.D. (1990)
19 x 13.3cm, 1pp artist's card with a drawing by Gary Hincks of American battle decals (stars) placed such as there is a visual correspondence with a patch of water-lilies. VG+. ...
Edinburgh: Morning Star Press, n.d.
4 x 0.5cm, machine embroidered name patch issued as part of a book publication by the Press – here separately mounted by stitching onto a 5.4 x 18.7cm unprinted card. The red thread has three names of boats "Tom", "Dick" and "Harry" but together reminds one of the cliche. VG+ condition.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorne Press, 1990
30.4 x 12.5cm, two printed card labels with string and twine respectively in envelope.
The more extreme Jacobin grouping within the French revolution are compared with the Girondists (who were also committed revolutionaries but who were ousted in the insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 as being insufficiently committed to rooting out perceived traitors to the cause). The latter insurrection of the more extreme of the Sans Culottes led to the Reign of Terror. Twine is much rougher than string - and the metaphor is that of the less cultured people of Paris being less sophisticated and less willing to accept compromises. Only 100 copies of this simple but striking object multiple were made. VG in like envelope.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
14 x 12.4cm, 4pp and printed card wrappers. The cover drawing of a boat is by Gary Hincks, internally are two poems by Finlay.
3 Sailboats
Juan Gris
Jean Cocteau
Erik Satie
opposite to
3 Sansculottes
Puvis de Chavannes
Camille Pissarro
Jean_Baptiste Corot
Finlay is associating the the thematic interests of the latter three painters (the lives of the poor and oppressed) against the bourgeois interests of Gris, Cocteau and Satie. The sansculottes being the working class mob in Paris during the revolution who could by sheer numbers overthrow the various attempts at moderate government and led eventually to the rise of Robespierre and the Terror. VG+.
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Edinburgh: Graeme Murray Gallery, 1990.
15 x 15cm, 4pp typographic announcement card for a solo show and also announces the artist's book of the same name. VG+.
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Basel: Kusntehall Basel, 1990
30.5 x 23cms, 92pp, plus original card covers and pictorial dust jacket. Exhibition catalogue for a major exhibition of works with a short essay in German by Thomas Kellein. Eight b/w photographs of Little Sparta and many works reproduced in colours. VG+.
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Lugo: Exempla, Firenze & Exit, 1990
25.8 x 19cm, 4pp single sheet of folded card in printed envelope. The card opens up to show a photograph by Martyn Greenhalgh of an automatic machine gun which has holes on the barrel to reduce heat. The gun can be seen against sheets of unused musical notation paper - hence the gun with the hole's becomes a violent form of Pan's reed pipes. The image is printed in light green to further emphasise the vegetative aspect of the work.
This is one of 150 signed and numbered copies (on the back of the envelope). VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
17.8 x 8.2cm, 4pp card. The front of the card has the text: "TWO MILESTONES/TWO LIVES" in red and then below "Varennes/Vincennes" in green.
The first "milestone" here was the town where the King Louis XVI was stopped when he and Marie Antoinette and their children tried to flee France after they were being held hostage by the revolution. The second milestone is the forrest where Rousseau wandered and had a "revelation" regarding the role of science and arts in human morality which he claimed changed his worldview. Both places changed the history of the individuals and one may argue the world. VG+.
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NYC: Christine Burgin Gallery, 1990
18 x 12.5cm, 1pp typographic announcement card for a US solo show. VG+ although there is some handwriting on the back which seems to relate to prices of certain works.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1989
18.4 x 11.1cm, 4pp red outer folder. Internally a 18.4 x 11.1cm, 4pp sheet with a poem:
KING
ohne
titel
sans
title
without
a head
The poem compares an artwork that has no title to a beheaded monarch who also presumably has no title once dead.
This is one of a series of works which the Wild hawthorn Press denoted as "Poems in folders". VG+.
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