Ian Hamilton Finlay - Unoriginal Sins

06 May THE LITTLE SPARTAN WAR. 2 PROPAGANDA CARDS. TWO PROSPECTS, TEMPLE OF APOLLO. 1983.

Posted at 10:29h in Artist's Postcards

Leeds: New Arcadians Press, 1983
11 x 16cm, printed purple envelope with title and publication information content of two cards.
The first card is:
2 PROSPECTS.
8.3 x 10.9cm 6pp (asymmetric folds). A folding card which has two drawings by Ian Gardner which reflect the shape of each other. The first is a slope on a battle ship's deck, the second a slope on a hill with a house and a tree. The "elevation" of the guns to the deck and the "elevation" of the house to the tree are mathematically compared to each other in the diagram.
Two quotes one by Horace Walpole and the other John James note the evolution of "Ha! Ha!s" in gardening - places where the ground drops away suddenly and allows unimpeded access to the grounds. On a battleship the slope in front of a gun allows the missile to be projected without opposition.
The card may be a typical Finlay work bringing attention to a comparison or metaphor between two things but given the on-going feeling of conflict and being under attack at Little Sparta at this time - the card is also a threat to those attacking the elevations of the grounds.

The second card is
THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO
10 x 13cm, 2pp and a duotone photograph of the the Temple of Apollo (aka Garden Temple) - the building that Finlay disputed the rating value of and the heart of the dispute between him and the Regional Council.
Both cards are VG+.
Murray's flawed catalogue raisonne only notes the first card and does not note it was part of a pair or that it was published by someone other that the Wild Hawthorn Press. it appears these cards were published at the same time as an exhibition at Southhampton Art Gallery.

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02 May UNTITLED (A COLUMN A DAY). 1983.

Posted at 10:40h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983 20.5 x 10.4cm, 4pp (folding from the top). A cut-out drawing by Nicholas Sloan of a section of a tree trunk with an arrow piercing the wood allowing a three-dimensional paper sculpture to be made. The final image reminds one of Saint Sebastian martyred because of his supposed defence of early Christians. The attacks on Finlay at this time probably made him feel like a martyr but this image could also be read as a symbol of the garden of Little Spartas as being under attack. The title of the card is not included and the title here we have taken from Murray's catalogue raisonne although there is no reason to be sure it is correct. VG+.

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01 May SHOCK TROPES FOR LITTLE SPARTA (ATTACK LETTER DART). 1983.

Posted at 10:49h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
19.7 x 12.7cm (closed size), 4pp gatefold. A mail art work by Finlay which opens up to read "SHOCK TROPES FOR LITTLE SPARTA" - the literary equivalent of the blitzkrieg, "Tropes" replacing "Troops".
This example was mailed by Finlay to Graeme Murray his then gallerist, Franked and stamped but VG+.

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30 Apr ELAVAZIONE DEL TEMPIO DI GIARDINO A PICCOLA SPARTA CON IMPTOVIMENTI NUOVI. 1983.

Posted at 12:28h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983 15.4 x 16.2cm, 1pp artist card with a drawing of the Temple of Apollo which was the disputed building in the dispute with Strathclyde Region. The facade has the carved text: "TO APOLLO/HIS MUSIC/HIS MISSILES/HIS MUSES". The drawing is by Nicholas Sloan. Murray renames this card "Temple of Apollo Facade" but the title should really be in Italian as per the legend on the card.VG+.

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20 Apr PAN INCORPORATING PICK. UNUSED LETTERHEAD. c. 1982

Posted at 17:02h in Letters + Documents

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. c. 1982.
21 x 18cm, 1pp printed letterhead - green on grey. Finlay created a number of different stationery for Little Sparta and used them (as far as we can tell) indiscriminately for his correspondence. This unused example has across the top "PAN incorporating PICK/Scociety of Scottish Garden Poets". And at the bottom "The PICK is mightier than the PEN". Fine....

20 Apr LET US INVITE NATURE AND ALL THE VIRTUES TO OUR FESTIVALS. BLUE VARIANT.

Posted at 16:27h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. 14.8 x 14.8cm, red on white unused jam pot label from the edition of 15 small jars. The text is a quote from Saint-Just relating to the large scale festivals to celebrate the Cult of the Supreme Being during the Terror of the French Revolution. There were two variant printings of this item - one with a blue colour, and the other red. This is the former. Fine condition. Not in Murray....

20 Apr LET US INVITE NATURE AND ALL THE VIRTUES TO OUR FESTIVALS. RED VARIANT.

Posted at 16:26h in Object + Paper Multiples

06 Apr A FLUTE FOR SAINT-JUST. 1983.

Posted at 15:05h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
20.6 x 12.5cm, 1pp, black and blue on white card. The "flute" is created by the letters C and U in a repeating series of the words ICE and DUST in a vertical line such as the letters line up. Appended notes explain that Saint-Just owned an ivory flute and the words ICE and Dust come from contemporary revolutionary quotations. VG+.

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23 Mar CARBON COPY OF LETTER FROM FINLAY TO THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF STRATHCLYDE REGION. 1983.

Posted at 20:16h in Letters + Documents

30 x 21cm, 1pp original carbon copy on typing paper.
A copy of a letter sent by Finlay to the Chief Executive for Strathclyde Region.
The letter informs the Chief Executive that the works that were removed by the Sheriff Officer were not entirely Finlay's property, but part owned by an US institution.
Finlay raises the possibility that the US might invade Scotland from the Clyde bases to regain their property (an amusing canard) and then rants agains the Region but in a witty and amusing manner.
This is one of four such letters written on the same day by Finlay to various bodies. He was on a roll. Each (see other entries in this section) is a funny and often drole piece of trolling (before the word trolling was invented for this purpose).
Copies of the letter are noted as having been sent to Andrew Brown, Ian Gardner, Wadsworth Atheneum and Sol Lewitt (Finlay claims he had part ownership of the "stolen" works.

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22 Mar CARBON COPY OF LETTER FROM FINLAY TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR SCOTLAND. 1983.

Posted at 19:52h in Letters + Documents

30 x 21cm, 1pp original carbon copy on typing paper.
A copy of a letter sent by Finlay to the Secretary of State for Scotland.
The letter informs him about the "theft" of the works by the Sheriff Officer from Little Sparta. Finlay announces that the garden at Little Sparta is now closed because of the Region's actions. he also points out that some of the works taken were part owned by other institutions who were now considering legal action against Christie's and the Region to recover their property. Finlay says that that is wrong - that the US institutions should really be consulting the Pentagon. Finlay tells the SOS that he will now defend himself by any means necessary including should it be necessary "sleeping in our Wellies".
In conclusion Finlay accuses the SOS of licensing a "rabble: and calling it a "Region", "You have gone too far.".

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22 Mar CARBON COPY OF LETTER FROM FINLAY TO THE LONDON US CULTURAL ATTACHE. 1983.

Posted at 19:40h in Letters + Documents

30 x 21cm, 1pp original carbon copy on typing paper. A copy of a letter sent by Finlay to the Cultural Attache at the American Embassy in London.
The letter informs them that several works on loan to Little Sparta from the Sol Lewitt Collection in the Wadsworth Atheneum had been "stolen by officers of Strathclyde Region". The works Finlay believes were then "handed to the art dealer's Christie's. This is not the branch of Christie's which rumour has linked with the Mafia." Finlay states he asked for the works back but Christie's refused.
Finlay being Finlay reported the "theft" to the police who "made it clear to me that they were unlikely to take action." Other institutions also refused help, Finlay states that the Sheriff Officer Alexander Walker "though he prefers to be known as Sandy" was the main "robber" and that Walker is known to be leaving the country "today".
Finlay does not actually ask the Embassy to take any action - but it is inferred as a theft against an US establishment. The letter is really a bit of fun which Finlay can use later for press attention. Well worth reading.

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20 Mar A CORNER OF THE GARDEN TEMPLE (AKA LIBERTY, TERROR & VIRTUE). 1983.

Posted at 17:57h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
13.3 x 15.6cm, 1pp black and red on white artist's card with a photograph by John Stathatos. The image is of the table in the Garden Temple on the day Strathclyde Region removed candlesticks TERROT and VIRTUE from Finlay Garden Temple as a poinding ac tion to regain the money they claimed they were owed for unpaid rates. the posed photograph also has a copy of a sheet entitled "La liberte ou la mort 1989" - a study of the rhetoric of the French poet Roche. The title in MUrray's catalogue Raisonne is "LIBERTY, TERROR & VIRTUE" but that is perhaps not correct. VG+.

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