IAN HAMILTON FINLAY

ARTIST’S POSTCARDS

EVERY GOAL NEGATES. 1985. PAPER DART.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1985
21 x 21cm (unfolded), 2pp red on white card. The text "EVERY GOAL NEGATES" comes from the German atheist philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach in his book 'Thoughts on Death and Immortality' - in full it is 'Every goal negates; where there is no destruction, no negation and sacrifice of independent existence, there is no purpose." - emphasising the role of destruction and loss in the world.
Here Finlay has made this into a paper dart which is a weapon of sorts carrying Feuerbach's message to the person hit by the paper. VG+.

REED-PIPE. 1985.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1985
5.8 x 20.5cm, 1pp card printed black and red on cream with a drawing of a machine gun by Ron Costley which has holes in the barrel (to prevent over heating). Finlay has used this motif in prints and elsewhere to reflect the pan-pipes of the god Apollo.
Additional are several epigrams from the poet's "More Detached Sentences" (on gardening) and a note: "Owing to practical necessities of Little Sparta's War with Strathclyde Region, the Garden and Garden Temple are presently closed to the public. The provisional government of Little Sparta is revolutionary until the peace.".
This card is dated 1986 in both the flawed Murray Catalogue Raisonne and the Wild Hawthorn Press' own online listing of artist's cards - it is however clearly 1985 - not only printed on the card but additionally this example is hand addressed by Finlay to Harry Warschauer (and with a red rubber stamp impression - STRATHCLYDE REGION DER UNTERGANG DES ABENDLANDES) and the franking to the stamp is clearly dated "5 June 1985". We have restored this item to the correct date in this catalogue. VG+.

Ron Costley

FEWER SCULPTURES! MORE STATUES! 1985.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1985
10.2 x 24.6cm, 1pp red on white card. The text reads: "FEWER SCULPTURES! MORE STATUES! LIVE AMMUNITION IN COMMUNITY ARTS!"
Clearly a provocation in response to events and Finlay's turning to opposing the council and his other enemies with verbal aggressions. VG+.

WINDMILLS WINDING WATERS. 1985.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1985
5.1 x 7.2 cm, 8pp concertina card printed red on white and on both sides of the card. On both sides is the same line: "WINDMILLS WINDING WATERS" one word per section, clearly one is to read the lines as having two different meanings.
The first is a description of the landscape the windmill is set in, the second is the wind caused by the rotating (winding) sails. VG+.

THE DESIRE OF TOWING. 1985. WITH HANDWRITTEN CHRISTMAS GREETING FROM FINLAY.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1985
9.4 x 20.4cm, 4pp card with two poems - one by Luois Zukofsky which was printed in POTH 6:
The
desire
of
towing
Conjoined with Finlay's
The
attire
of
snowing

The first refers to a barge being pulled along and the forces creating a desire to be somewhere else, the latter is a description of snow covering everything after a fall.
This example has a hand written Christmas greeting from Finlay on the left side of the inner card. VG+.

CARD FOR THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST BATTLE OF LITTLE SPARTA FEBRUARY 4 1983. 1986. WITH RUBBER STAMP IMPRESSION VERSO.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
11.5 x 17.7, 1pp card with noting the third anniversary of Strathclyde Regions "assault" on the Garden Temple at Little Sparta below which Finlay has written printed green on cream:BR> "all wars grow mossy".
The line reminds the reader that all statues and commemorative stones ultimately are covered in growth and the event forgotten. This is one of my favourite Finlay aphorisms - time passes and what seems memorable goes from public consciousness.
This card on the back has a black rubber stamp impression from Finlay that reads "FEBRUARY 4/DAY OF THE FLUTE". VG+.

PEAR (THOMAS JEFFERSON’S GARDEN BOOK). 1986.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
9 x 10.5cm, 4pp artist's card with a line drawing of a pear by Stephanie Kedik on the front, and internally two poems:

very fine
late cherry

fine late
large pear

The poems reference texts in Thomas Jefferson's garden as noted in the book he wrote in 1769. Pears and cherries were important to the President and he delighted in growing both. VG+.

Andrew Townsend, Stephanie Kedik

THE IDEA OF THE ARCADIAN SHEPHERDS IS CLEAR….. 1986.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d.. (1986) 12.7 x 8.2cm, 2pp printed green and black on cream card. A text by Anthony Blunt (then the Queen's curator and later to be revealed as a traitor) from his book "The Paintings Of Poussin" explains the work Et in Arcadia Ego (Blunt refers to it as the Arcadian Shepherds - a lesser used title) which Finlay has often referred to in his works. The text has been altered however to suggest that the message on the tomb in the painting says "Terror" and Virtue" instead of Et In Arcadia ego. Finlay has referenced the French Revolution by this substitution and his view that terror was a direct consequence of virtue and that the former is somehow a pure form of conscience.

On the back of the card is a reminder on the third anniversary of the "Strathclyde Region's assault on the Garden Temple" where the local authority took in lieu of disputed rates two works by Finlay. The card complains that the Scottish Arts Council and the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Arts Minister have not "upheld the law" in the artist's opinion. VG+.

A MODEST HERO. 1986.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
19.1 × 11.7cm, 1pp blue on white artist's card with a drawing by Gary Hincks. The drawing shows a watering can in a floral garden setting.
The phrase "modest hero" was coined by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre when referring to the ordinary man (and woman) at the centre of the French revolution - but the watering can is a reminder of the Thermidorian reaction as The Directory came to replace the rule of Robespierre and eventually the rise of the dictator Napoleon. VG+.

Gary Hincks

WREATHING OF ROCKETS. 1986.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
7 x 7cm, 4pp folding card with a poem by Finlay based on a newspaper report on the repairs made to wells which gave the poet his last line.

wreathing of rockets<BR. dusting of dreadnoughts
greening of gun-sites
parading of panzers
dressing of wells

The lines all describe war machines being camouflaged - a common theme in Finlay which is a momento mori - death can be found in beauty. VG+.

PEAR. 1986.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
9 x 10.5cm, 4pp folding card with a line drawing of a pear by Stephanie Kedik, printed black on light brown with the following texts on the left and right inner folds - on the left::
very fine
late cherry

and on the right:
fine later
large pear

The references from from Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book that lists his activities in two different gardens during the 1766 to 1824 period (the gardens it should be noted, in a great part, had their upkeep from slaves). Finlay's texts remind the reader of the physical similarity of the two plump fruits but also they differentiate the two gardens of the President's life - in fact the first entry in Jefferson's diary is a description of his cherries and, later, he he writes about a 'Seckel Pear' at Monticello (his second house) claiming this variety "exceeded anything I have tasted since I left France, and equalled any pear I had seen there." The two poems therefore also represent the young and the old life of the gardener. VG+. Scarce.

Stephanie Kedik

NETTLES. 1986.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
5.1 x 5.1cm, 4pp folding card with a drawing of nettles by Stephanie Kedik, printed black on light olive paper with the following poem on the left inner fold:
The pears
and frets
of nettles
VG+. Scarce.