IAN HAMILTON FINLAY

ARTIST’S POSTCARDS

IMPROVISATION NO. 1. 1977.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1977
6.6 x 21cm, 2pp. A photographic card with a b/w image of a lily pond and the surface pond scum which has been disturbed by the passage of a swimming bird to leave lines in the algae. Amusingly Finlay credits this painterly image to himself, Carl Heideken (the photographer) and an "unidentified waterhen". The image is meant to appear like an improvised painting or even an avant garde music score (if one squints a bit and uses one's imagination) hence the title. VG+.

Carl Heideken

WORDSWORTH/WADSWORTH. 1978.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
8 x 16.6cm, 2pp. A card with two abstract drawings by Jim Downie - one representing the romantic interest of Wordsworth (trees) and the other the Dazzle form of camouflage invented by Edward Wadsworth to help defend ships at sea. Finlay clearly enjoys the slight change in spelling between the names and the resulting hard edge vs organic images. VG+.

Jim Downie

MARIONETTE (1). 1978.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. Black on white card with a photograph by Dave Paterson of a toy military airplane made by Finlay which has been attached to a cross bar with string to create a marionette. The plane is painted in British camouflage and decals. The plane is flying amidst clouds (cottonwool?) and ready for battle. This is a companion card to the next one (Marionette 12) and presumably shows the fighter before any encounter with an enemy. VG+.

Dave Paterson

MARIONETTE (2). 1978.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. Black on white card with a photograph by Dave Paterson of a toy military airplane made by Finlay which has been attached to a cross bar with string to create a marionette. The plane is painted in British camouflage and decals. The wings both are in two parts and one has been allowed to drop as if the plane has been damaged in a dogfight. This is a companion card to the previous one (Marionette 1) and presumably shows the after effect of encounter with an enemy. VG+.

Dave Paterson

BETULA PENDULA (SILVER BIRCH). 1978.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
9.6 x 13.8cm, 2pp. Black on white card with a drawing of a German tank amongst silver birch trees by Gary Hincks.
Finlay has a number cards (and some prints) bearing images of the German Panzer force which is often regarded (if not entirely true) as the most effective of the land war weapons of the conflict. This tank pictured by Hincks is specifically a Tiger 308 of the schwere Panzer Abteilung 502 and was one of the heavy weapons to aid in the (failed) push to conquer Russia.
The Silver Birch is also a tree that is found from Scotland to the East - it does not stretch south in Europe except at much higher altitudes - thus may also be regarded as "invading" Russia.
In any case, the tank symbolises death for Finlay and when shown in beautiful landscapes is a real reminder of the painting "In Arcadia Ego" by Poussin which is meant to remind humans that they too will die someday. VG+.

Gary Hincks

PERSEVERE. 1978.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
9.6 x 13.8cm, 2pp. Black on white card with a quotation from "A Handbook of Sailing Barges" which states that:
PERSEVERE, stripped of her gear and relying on power alone."
The sentence refers to a boat being unable to move mechanically - but also the alternative meaning that perseverance is relying on oneself.

COUNTER ARGUMENT. 1978.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
9.6 x 13.8cm, 2pp. Black on white card with an entirely typographic design on the front -
10. Counter Argument: yes it can.
On the reverse Finlay notes a report: "A project for the Expansion of the Administrative Centre of Lower Austria in Vienna." by Hans Buchwald, Wolfgang Felix Knoll and Jurgen Brenner. Stuttgart 1977." Obviously the text on the front comes from or relates to that report but we cannot find any reference to the contents or context. For now this car will remain a mystery other than being somewhat a dogmatic way of winning an argument..

“AUCH ICH WAR IN ARKADIEN.” 1978.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
9.6 x 14cm, 2pp. Black on white card with a photograph of a German tank in what appears to be a snowy Russia. A soldier lies slumped over the turret, dead.
Another of Finlay's momento mori works - the title directly references the famous painting "ET IN ARCADIA EGO" but the text is in German. A sub heading by Finlay on the back of the card adds: "Things were even worse than this in Arcady...."
Hitler's attack on Russian soil is regarded as one of the major reasons by the fascist was defeated. Supply chains were disrupted and the sheer size of the Russian motherland allowed Stalin to continually refresh the front with new soldiers as Germany's numbers declined so far that they were forced to retreat all the way back. Death stalked them. And of course, death even is found in Arcadia.

SOME VERSIONS OF PASTORAL. 1978.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
14.8 x 12.2cm, 2pp. Black on cream card with six drawings by Gary Hincks of patterns which may be camouflage or just abstract drawings from leaves and vegetation.
The card is subtitled HOMAGE TO WILLIAM EMPSON who was a majorly influential critic and theorist in poetry circles of the 1930s. His book "Seven Types of Ambiguity" argued that if a word in a poem could have more than one meaning then that poem could also be read in more than one manner.
There are seven drawings here (the last two are half of the size of the others) and all could be regarded as 'ambiguous' (as one might argue all camouflage is) hence this is in some manner a visual analogue of the theories of the critic.
VG+.

Gary Hincks

LEAF/BARK BOOKMARK. 1978.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
15.8 x 3.9cm, 2pp. Black on green card with 5 small uncredited drawings by Gary Hincks the first four boats being above the word Leaf and the last ship above Bark. The card obviously references the structure of a tree but the first four "leaves" are smaller boats and the last one a Barque (aka Bark). Arguably like other bookmarks this could be placed as an object multiple but we have decided to keep it in this section because of previous classifications as a card by Murray and other catalogue raisonnes. VG+.

Gary Hincks

HANDLEY PAGE HEYFORD. 1978.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
16.7 x 12.8cm, 2pp. Two drawings by Hincks of the Handley Page Heyford bomber (which was in service in the 1930s in the UK) and an English Hay-Barge are placed one above each other to create an equivalence. As well as the names being similar there are aspects of both which share a shape - the bomber is very long and has a flat base, and barges by definition tend to have flat bottoms to allow access in shallower rivers. Hincks drawings also use hatching on the hay piled up on the deck, the sails of the boat and fuselage of the plane to again emphasis similarities (and the landscape seen below the plane is also undulating much like the sea under the barge.

Gary Hincks

A WOODLAND FLUTE. 1978. SIGNED & DATED BY FINLAY.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1978
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. A list of the latin names of trees all of which share a U in their names are placed one above the other such that a descending line of the letter can be seen (printed in black to highlight it further). Above the text instructs the reader to "play: cover tall the letters except U, using the index finger of each hand."
The "U"s create the fictional flute representing holes - a clear reference to the classical Pan and his pipes. The rest of the card is printed in lime green - again a symbol of vegetation and nature.
this card has been later signed in green ink on the back "Ian Hamilton Finlay 15.4.83". VG+.

Ron Costley