Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
16.5 x 13.5cm, 4pp. A b/w photograph of a model airplane made by Finlay has alternative sides of the plane painted in different colours. The homage of Jean Gris the cubist brings to mind his painting of a Pierrot where alternative sides of the actor's clothing are different colours (presumably in part by patching - a symbolism of love for Finlay). Photograph by Dave Paterson. VG+.
Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
4.5 x 11cm, 4pp. Black on light brown card with a drawing of ketch boats on the front by what looks like Gary Hincks but is uncredited. Inside is the two line poem:
HOMAGE TO THE L. A. DOUST ART MANUALS
s
ketch
The art manuals were a popular adult and child series of books which were meant to teach drawing skills. Finlay uses the front cover drawing as a icon for that activity and makes a joke by adding the s to the name of the boats to make "sketch.VG+.
Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
11.7 x 13.5cm, 4pp. The front of the card has a poem under the title:
Lily has grown
a full stop.
Iris has not<BR
On the back of the card is a photograph by Dave Paterson of a small wooden sculpture by Finlay called "Lily" and the poem is an adaption of a Cutt's poem FAMILY which we believe to be about the latter's children but cannot confirm. Finlay's mild parody references the photograph where an additional floating "leaf" appears to have been attached to the sculpture by wire - almost as if it has grown -the shape of the leaf, is like the round full stop. VG+.
Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
7.5 x 7.8cm, 4pp small folding card with a drawing of a church and a beached boat by Laurie Clark. The scene has several elements that are visually similar - the four leaf plants (clovers?), the propellor on the boat, and the church windows all have the same shape. The word "Eastertide" simply means Easter but it has additional meaning because the boat cannot move until the tide comes in. Additionally in the Biblical myth around Jesus, the role of fish and fishermen as metaphors are often central. One is forced to conclude this is a religious card - something that does not come up too often in Finlay's work. VG+.
Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
15,5 x 17.6cm, 6pp folding card printed on one side only black on pink with a drawing of three partially blown dandelion seed heads by Laurie Clark. The French title means flower clock - and the partly distributed seeds on the heads of the drawing remind one of a coded time - - perhaps a quarter before four?
Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
9.9 x 22.5cm, 4pp Folding card printed only on the inside. Left and right respectively are found:
TEA-KETTLE-DRUM and WATER - LILY - CUP
in a slightly archaic font. The colours of the words alternative black and russet red.
The two groups of three words are able to be combined in any three ways - on the left it can be Tea kettle, Tea drum (a place to store tea) and Kettle drum (a type of drum) on the right Water lily, Water cup and Lily cup (a part of the flower). Additionally the complex words Tea kettle drum and Water Lily cup are in themselves things and have a visual resemblance to each other.
Finally it may be that the mention of the drum recalls the French Revolutionary Army and Bara, the martyred drum boy. The French crown was long associated by the fleur-de-li, a lily. And of course the head of the king (lily cup) was removed when he was legally murdered by the new Republic.
Simple and complex like the best of Finlay and ultimately a "text visual" as opposed to a "visual poem".
Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975.
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp. The last of a series of "National Flags" created by Finlay - here the red flag (of war) has three tanks (rampant?) on it. In myth Viking warriors either go to Valhalla (a vast feasting hall overseen by Odin) upon death, or the fields of Fólkvangr hence this fictitious nation is warlike and requires such an angry flag. VG+.
Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975.
15.2 x 20cm, 2pp. A photograph of a garden stone plaque with Albert Durer's well known monogram. Title of the work is after Durer's famous watercolour painting "The Great Piece of Turf" from 1503 which shows a bunch of wild flowers. The placing of the plaque is like most sitings in Stonypath (now Little Sparta) great considered and the photograph shows how it is next to a group of uncultured wild plants. Photo by Michael McQueen, the sculpture who worked to Finlay's instruction was John Andrew. This was the first of three cards which all show garden scenes. VG+.
Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975.
20 x 15.2cm, 2pp. A photograph of a garden sculpture depicting the world's first ever nuclear submarine - USS Nautilus. The work is in concrete and an abstracted shape of the hull and towers. Photo by Michael McQueen, the sculpture who worked to Finlay's instruction was John Andrew. VG+.
Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975.
20 x 15.2cm, 2pp. A photograph of an installation in the Stonypath (later Little Sparta) of a ground stone that reads "See POUSSIN, Hear LORRAINE." in front of a small lake. Both names are painters, the first tending to paint arcadian scenes, the other views of rivers and sea ports. Photo by Michael McQueen, the sculpture who worked to Finlay's instruction was John Andrew. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
11.8x 15.1cm, 2pp artist postcard with a reproduced painting by Manduca of an air craft carrier. J. M. (Edmund John Millington) Synge was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, collector of folklore, and a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival who wrote the bleak and realitic play The Playboy of the Western World. VG+.
