11 Jan

Posted at 20:32h in Prints + Posters

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987
54.5 x 49.5cm, full colour offset lithograph on paper. The reproduced painting by Hincks is of Saint-Juste supposedly replacing Tatlin in his cubist self-portrait The Sailor from 1911. The text: "SAILORS! REVOLUTIONAIRES! LEARN FROM YOUR BOLDNESs" is from the French revolution but could equally be from the Russian overthrow of the Tzar. Whereas in the original painting the cap has the word GUARDIAN on it, the Finlay version says REPUBLIQUE.
The image we have used here is from a publication - the print we hold is framed in wood and glass and hard to image without reflections - but the work is in VG+ condition.

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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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22 Dec

Posted at 21:30h in Letters + Documents

Little Sparta: Finlay, 22nd December 1986
An original vintage xerox 30 x 21cm, 1pp with a round robin letter from Finlay to all of the Saint-Just Vigilantes explaining the the Consumer Protection Department has begun an investigation of "Follies: a National Trust Guide" by Headley and Meulenkamp and published by Jonathan Cape. Finlay asks if his supporters can write to the CPD with letters explaining why Little Sparta is not a Folly and why it should not be included in such a guide. Finlay hopes the investigation may lead to the withdrawal of the Follies book. The letter ends with one of Finlay's "detached sentences on the National Trust":
"One cannot preserve the meaning of a building by preserving the building alone."

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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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28 Nov

Posted at 21:12h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
14 x 7 x 7cm, ceramic glazed vase in the shape of a classical column and a definition of the word WILDFLOWER in red and blue - "A MEAN TERM BETWEEN REVOLUTION AND VIRTUE." A wildflower is untamed and uncontrolled even when beautiful - here Finlay's definition places the idea of such a person as being "between revolution and virtue" which i the actual French uprising was not seen as incompatible. The word "mean" also is allowed two meanings - "an average" and "an unpleasant'. Together this work invites the viewer to consider the role of the individual within collective action and collective morality.
Sadly this vase was damaged by a member of the public when Paul Robertson's collection was exhibited in Summerhall, Edinburgh - there is a clean break all around the top of the cubic base - and the red and blue glazing is not as strong as it should have been. Finlay gave this vase to Herbert Winter the well-known gallerist in Wein from whence Robertson purchased it. Limitation of the edition is not known but probably not too many.

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06 Nov

Posted at 22:52h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987
14 x 18.4m, 1pp Artist's card with a b/w photograph of a field of sheep near Little Sparta by . Finlay writes underneath "The wine-dark sea, the turnip-marbled field" and "The Hyperborean Apollo of Walter Pater's Apollo in Picardy. In little Sparta he is identified with Saint-Just.". Greek mythology is mixed with Finlay's French revolutionary hero and the landscape which is a prosaic, rural version of Arcadia. VG+.

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01 Nov

Posted at 10:59h in Page Works & Contributions

Cambridge: Kettle's Yard, 1986
21 x 15cm, 56pp. Original wrappers . An exhibition catalogue for a show of artist's books which included Christian Boltanski, Annette Messager, John Latham, Anslem Kiefer and Finlay amongst others. Short texts on each artist. This is more notable however for the bound in 14 x 8cm, 8pp original artist's book by Finlay (which was also published elsewhere by the Wild Hawthorn Press) - Two Billows - from 1980. The blue booklet has on one side of the centre pages the text: "greeness, leaf or bark: and on the other "greeness, leaf or barque" - this changes the image from a tree being blown around to that of a boat being pushed by the wind. We are placing this item in the Page Works & Contributions section but it could be equally be found in artist's books or exhibition catalogues. VG+.

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25 Oct

Posted at 23:10h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
18 x 13cm, 4pp Artist's card black on light blue (to reflect the colour of the flower) with a drawing of the forget-me-not on the front by Stephanie Kedik and a text:
Myosotis Sylvatica
Forget-me-Not

A wild
flower
within

Memory of a loved one is compared to a wild flower growing in the body. VG+.

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20 Oct

Posted at 22:57h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987
17.4 x 18.3m, 1pp Artist's card with a b/w photograph by Antonia Reeve of the road up to Little Sparta and the first gate encountered after reaching the sheep field. . Finlay writes underneath "Little Sparta's Eastern Frontier at the time of The First Battle of Little Sparta february 4 1983. The old gate marks the site of the barrier, which has since been removed." Checkpoint Charlie was the nickname for the best known crossing point between East and West Berlin during the cold war. VG+.

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