POIRE/LOIRE. FROM THE NABIS SERIES. 1987.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
26.4 x 12.2cm, unprinted white outer folder content of two 26.4 x 12.2cm offset lithographs. The first sheet is printed on russet brown paper and has the sole text “POIRE” at the top and the second has “LOIRE” also at the top but this time printed on bright blue paper.
One of Finlay’s innovative colour paper prints where the medium utilised is as important as the words found upon the page.
The pairing of the rhyming works Poire and Loire identify this as French themed work – Loire Valley and river being to the south West of Paris and Poire (pair) being a long associated fruit from this region (Poire Tapees being a long loved desert from the Vendee).The colour reflect the colours of ripe pairs and the bright sunny sky of the area.
As an aside the Loire Valley was part of the Vendee uprising of 1793 which rocked the French revolution until it was brutally put down by Republican army troops – and Finlay made many works about those events although it is not quite clear if this work relates to those events. VG+.