IAN HAMILTON FINLAY

ARTIST’S POSTCARDS

ELEGY.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d.
9.5 x 6.cm, 4pp, Artist's card with a drawing of a boat on the front.

Internally there is a list of names:

Elegy
Elizabeth Campbell
Isa Wilson
Charlotte Chambers
Yvonne Risager
George R. Wood
Mary Robinson
William Risager
These appear to be names of boats (the Yvonne Risager and William Risager being built in 1955 according to Fishing News, a publication Finlay often read) . On the back of the card are the boat registrations numbers:

PL56, D, NI20, SD50, A465, BH32, BA110

One presumes the elegy is for lost or ruined boats - but this is the author's speculation. VG+.

TWO MILESTONES. 1990.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
17.8 x 8.2cm, 4pp card. The front of the card has the text: "TWO MILESTONES/TWO LIVES" in red and then below "Varennes/Vincennes" in green.
The first "milestone" here was the town where the King Louis XVI was stopped when he and Marie Antoinette and their children tried to flee France after they were being held hostage by the revolution. The second milestone is the forrest where Rousseau wandered and had a "revelation" regarding the role of science and arts in human morality which he claimed changed his worldview. Both places changed the history of the individuals and one may argue the world. VG+.

WATER-LILIES. 1990.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, N.D. (1990)
19 x 13.3cm, 1pp artist's card with a drawing by Gary Hincks of American battle decals (stars) placed such as there is a visual correspondence with a patch of water-lilies. VG+.

A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE. 1990.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
5.0 x 17.8cm, 2pp card. One side has the text: "A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE" accredited to "Gertrude Jekyll" and on the other side "ARROWS ARE ARROWS ARE ARROWS" accredited to "Hereclitus". Jekyll was an influential turn of the century gardener and the quote is an adaption of Shakespeare as is the fake quotation offered as Hereclitian. The latter, of course, stressed the lack of repetition in history. A jokey work. VG+.

A LIBERTY TREE. 1990.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
23.6 x 15.9cm, 4pp folding card. A uncredited (although looks like Gary Hincks' style) painting of a Liberty Tree but here with chains and locks around it (the American and French revolutionary symbols did not have any locks but were just trees left free to grow). Under the tree Finlay has added the names of the French and other critics who had disingenuously and erroneously accused him of being anti-semite. A simple visual poetic attack on his enemies. VG+.

POTATOCUT ROBIN. 1990. XMAS CARD.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990. 9 x 6cm, 4pp. Artist designed XMas card with the text on the front:

potatocut robin
linocut garden fork
wood-engraved tree

The first two lines indicate the use of etching techniques in artist's works, the last line being both a refence to the bark of certain trees and also the lovers' carving of names on trees. VG+. Scarce.

GATE FOLD. 1991

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1991) 5.4 x 8cm, 4pp. Artist's card with a gate on the front and inside left of sheep in a pasture by Gwyneth Leech. Inside the card next to the crease are the words "gate fold" - to make a joke of the format of the work. VG+.

ABRAHAM A SANTA CLARA. 1991.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1991 5.4 x 9.5cm, 4pp. A scythe is evolved into a Nazi SS symbol in place of the blade. Drawing by Gary Hincks. Inside is a long text written by a 17th century Monk Abraham a Sancta Clara who compares death as a reaper, a gardener, a player and thunderbolt which not only strikes down the poor but also the powerful. The alteration in the design of the blade not only reminds one of the origin of the SS symbol and the German fascist interest in Nordic origins but also the aggression and death that they brought to the world. This is one of two cards with similar text which Finlay released - the other card has different drawings and is bigger. VG+.

Gary Hincks

A REFLECTION ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 1991.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1991) 14.6 x 10.4cm, 4pp artist’s card with a drawing of a guillotine and the text:

aA Reflection on the French Revolution
No rose without a thorn

The guillotine is seen as required to support the revolution - Finlay often noted that the outcome of the "purity" of the Revolution's commitment to virtue was the terror. VG+.

ABRAHAM A SANTA CLARA. 1991. VARIANT.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1991
20.0 x 7.3cm, 8pp (single accordion folded sheet). A scythe is evolved over three panels into firstly a lightning strike as a blade to a single S from the nazi SS logo in the third panel. Drawing by Gary Hincks. The forth panel has a long text written by a 17th century Monk Abraham a Sancta Clara who compares death as a reaper, a gardener, a player and thunderbolt which not only strikes down the poor but also the powerful. The alteration in the design of the blade not only reminds one of the origin of the SS symbol and the German fascist interest in Nordic origins but also the aggression and death that they brought to the world. VG+. This is a variant on a very similar card (with the same name and text) which Finlay issued in a smaller size in 1990. VG+.

Gary Hincks

3 SPACES. 1991.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1991 9.8 x 7.8 cm, 8pp (printed recto only). A folding card with three short poetic texts by Finlay.

First meeting (Chaplinesque)
The hole in her sock

was his lovers' moon.

One of 250 examples printed. VG+.

TWO LANDSCAPES VIEWED THROUGH A VISION SLIT OF A TANK. 1991.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1991 9 x 10.5cm, 6pp concertina fold. Artist;s card with two paintings reproduced by Ian Gardner based on works by John Robert Cozens. VG+.