Little Sparta: Finlay, 23 February 1988
Standard hand addressed DL manilla postal envelope to Inez Horst-Aletrino. Notable for the black rubber stamp impression added by Finlay to the front: "WHAT IS NOT RESOLVED IN LANGUAGE IS RESOLVED IN BLOOD" . Return address stamping on back. Slightly roughly opened.
London: Gavin Stamp, 5h April 1988
An original vintage xerox 30 x 21cm, 1pp of a letter from Gavin Stamp, the writer, television presenter and architectural historian, to the French Ambassador to Great Britain.
Stamp expresses his dismay at the cancellation of the Versailles commission by the French Government "apparently for political reasons".
He goes on to say" that an artist investigates the meanings and ambiguities of symbols does not mean that he embraces them. An Anyone who studies Finlay soon realises that the idea that he is a Nazi sypathizer (sic) is preposterous."
"Unfortunately, because he has sometime explored the meaning of Classicism under the Third Reich - as have others, anxious to exorcise the traumas of this century - he has been smeared by lesser, and ignorant men."
"Finlay's project for Versailles demonstrates peculiar sympathy with the Classical tradition of France and understanding of the French Revolutionary period. It deserves to be executed."
Finlay and his wife sought help from friends during the dispute caused by Millet's accusations of anti=-Semitism and this is an example of one of the letters sent on their behalf - this being a particularly powerful defence of the aesthetics of Finlay. it did sadly not change the French Government's mind and the cancellation of the commission stood.
Copied at the time by Finlay to distribute to friends and press as a source of information. VG although some rippling of the paper.
London: Institute of Contemporary Arts, 7th April 1988
An original vintage xerox 30 x 21cm, 1pp of a letter from James Lingwood to Monsieur de Lacoste.
A delivered after a delegation met with Monsieur de Lacoste, the Minister Consular at the London French Embassy to discuss the cancellation of Finlay's Versailles Garden Commission asking that he communicate the substance of the delegations argument to the Ministry of Culture. He goes on to point out that "unsubstantiated allegation should never take precedence over considered debate".
"We were mindful that your response to us was of necessity professional rather than persona, and thank you again for your consideration. Had the artists been afforded similar consideration prior to any public announcement, this alarming and disappointing sequence of events may never have occurred."
Little Sparta: Finlay, April 1988
An original vintage xerox 30 x 21cm, 1pp statement from Finlay in which he notes the allegations against him in Art Press, on the French radio station Europe 1, in the April edition of Galeries magazine edited by Yves Hyatt where they refer to his "pervasive allusions to Nazi horrors".
Finlay, in turn, accuses his accusers of "a crude attempt to use - that is, to abuse - emotions associated with race in order to destroy me, my work, my family , and my livelihood. it is sad that those who complain of past tyrannies, and who talk of "human rights" commit these excesses. Certainly what is thrust upon us is a war and from now on we shall defend ourselves in every way we can."
Petersfield: Bedales School, 14th April, 1988
30 x 21cm, 1pp original xerox copy of a letter sent by Jessie Sheeler to m. Yves Jouffra, President de League de Droit de l'Homme complaining about the attack by Michel Blum on Finlay. Sheeler points to Sue and Ian Hamilton Finlay's support to victims of injustice and discrimination. "It is tragically ironic that your organisation has allowed itself to be identified with oppressive and vindictive forces at wokr in your society." A facsimile copy of the letter distributed by Finlay to friends and supporters.
Manchester: ME Action Campaign, 16th April 1988
An original vintage xerox 30 x 21cm, 1pp of a letter from Martin Lev to Catherine Millet" of Art Press
A letter taking Millet to task for her claims that Sue and Ian Finlay were anti-Semite. Lev praises Sue Finlay for her actions in the ME Action Campaign (on whose letterhead this letter was typed - possibly without permission) and says he knows them both well. He notes his own Jewishness and says that he finds it "absolutely extraordinary" that the claims could be made against them Finlays
"It seems clear to me that Ian is the innocent victim of a particularly sordid and nasty bout of in-fighting in the French political and art world...."".
Finlay and his wife sought help from friends and this is an example of one of the letters sent to Millet and other accusers in this fight. Copied at the time by Finlay to distribute to friends and press as a source of information. VG
Little Sparta: Finlay, 17th April 1988
An original vintage xerox 30 x 21cm, 1pp with a letter from Finlay to Michel Blum (one of his accusers) at the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme - Finlay points out that he has not had an answer to his previous letter of April 4 1988 nor his letter of April 11 1988.
Finlay then quotes the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen:
"Article V11
No man can be accused, arrested, or kept in detention except in the situations determined by the law...."
Accused is underlined.
Finlay then states that Blum has "allied himself with a campaign or cabal which has the aim of terrorising innocent people and destroying their livelihood. You have given no thought to the pain you have caused me or my family. Following the appalling editorial in Galeries magazine there is something that has to be said: The tragic deaths of six million Jews forty years ago does not provide, as you seem to suppose, any excuse whatsoever for inhumanity now"
A copy of the letter distributed by Finlay to friends and supporters as part of the latter's information campaign against his opponents.
Little Sparta: Finlay, c. 17 April 1988
A 21 x 30cm, 1pp original xerox of an article in the Scotsman from 16th April 1988 noting that the US vetoed a resolution in the United Nations Security Council to censure Israel for its "iron fist response " to the Palestinian uprising in the occupied West Bank. A reproduced typed note by Finlay is along side.
The note in full is: "The question of deportation entered this controversy because Hirschfeld was going to be deported from France and asked Finlay to intervene on his behalf. This introduced by the problems France imposed on Hirschfeld, the word "deportation: has been used - with perverse cunning - as "proof" of Finlay's alleged anti-semitism.
If to use the word "deportation" is to be an anti-semite advocating the holocaust, what is to be understood by the attached report from The Scotsman newspaper April 16 1988."
In the article Finlay has highlighted a paragraph where the Americans called on Israel to "rescind deportation orders against Palestinians. His point is his critics have deliberately misrepresented his views by selective quoting of charged language.
BR>
Paris: Catherine Boutry, 23rd April, 1988
30 x 21cm, 2pp original xerox copy of a letter sent by Catherine Boutry (a well known architectural writer in France) to the President of the French Republic. The letter (obviously written in French) brings the dispute over the Versailles commission to the latter's attention. Describing the background to the commission, Boutry attacks Finlay's detractors and points out that elements of Finlay's letters were deliberately used to malign the artist. She asks the President to consider an appeal to the decision.
n.p.: n.p. (Maitre Jean-Claud Zylberstein), n.d. (1988)
An original vintage xerox 30 x 21cm, 1pp copy of a statement (here in the original English) made by Finlay's lawyer Maitre Jean-Claud Zylberstein on the day that he announced actions for damages against Jonathan Hirschfeld, Art press, the magazine Galeries and the French Government.
The statement notes the horror felt by Finlay at being attacked as being a Nazi and being anti-semitic and the background where a work OSSO exhibited in Paris ARC in 1987 was mis-interpreted: "the work equated the SS insignia with the "primal wildness" of nature and with death. In the exhibition it was contrasted with the perfected forms of culture represented by the neo-platonic Cubes. This was clearly set out in the texts displayed in the exhibition".
The attacks on Finlay by Jonathan Hirschfeld who Finlay had co-exhibited with in the Fondation Cartier were also explained. Maitre Jean-Claud Zylberstein argues that Hirschfeld picked a fight in private correspondence with Finlay and then released them with deliberate mistranslations to make Finlay look bad.
"A man is not a Nazi because he identifies the SS with savage nature or because he defends himself when attacked unreasonably by a man who happens to be jewish."
Little Sparta: Finlay, n.d. (April 1988)
An original vintage xerox 30 x 21cm, 1pp with a Press Release from Finlay announcing the appointment of two Parisian lawyers - Maitre Zylberstein and Maitre Nordman. it notes that the former represented Daniel Buren when he was in conflict with the French Government and the latter a prominent member of the French Communist Party and represented the victims of the Nazi Claus Barbie in the (then) recent trial in France.
The statement announces that "actions for damages are being taken against Jonathan Hirschfeld and a number of French publications as well as against the French government. A "Droit de Reponse" is also being sought."
The statement also announces that "on the night of April 26 the French Section of the Saint-Just Vigilantes carried out a series of poster raids on enemy territory. Among the target-buildings were the French Ministry of Culture, the offices of Art Press and Galeries magazine, the Hirschfeld residence, and the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme. The posters carried a text from Dante: "Lasciate Ogni Speranza Voi CH'Enratre!".
Those words are the famous warning over the gates to Hades - Abandon hope, all who enter here!
Finally the statement notes "the smear campaign being carried out by Waldemar Januszczak of the Guardian, Gwyn Headley the publicist, Wim Meulenkamp, Warren Davis of the National Trust and others in England and Holland. "Appropriate action is being prepared."
A copy of the press release distributed by Finlay to friends and supporters as part of the latter's information campaign against his opponents - in it all of Finlay's enemies are name checked.
Little Sparta: Finlay, 30th April 1988
An original vintage xerox 30 x 21cm, 2pp with a reproduced letter from Finlay to Michel Blum (one of his accusers) at the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme - Finlay writes in anger that Blum has not replied to his questions asking if Blum had actually seen any of Finlay's works that he condemned but instead replied with "a renewal of your accusations, couched in the coldest, most cruel terms."
Finlay then continues:
"Let it be said that your attacks on me are in no way a matter of a cultural disagreement. They are attacks which given the terminology you use, can only have the effect of destroying me, my livelihood, Sue Finlay, and our children. I say that you are an intellectual terrorist: I tell you further, that those who casually and contemptuously destroy innocent people are taking a very great risk."
"I last saw you wearing a pair of high, polished boots and carrying a little whip in your hand. Your behaviour will not be forgotten. You will not always be so happy to be Maitre Michel Blum."
Finlay could be cutting.
Copied at the time by Finlay to distribute to friends and press as a source of information. VG
