31 Jul EVENING WILL COME. THEY WILL SEW THE BLUE SAIL. OFFSET EXHIBITION PRINT. c. 1970.

35.5 X 31.5cm, b/w offset lithographic offset reproduction of an original photograph of the first version of Finlay's perhaps most famous work. The lithogrpah is tipped on to thick board and with a title card above the image. A exhibition print more than likely.
This image is an important one because the sculpture (a carved wooden work) is installed in the ground in Little Sparta and the last time I saw it was beginning to rot away. I brought that to Finlay's attention and he told me "let it return to nature".
The work is the first version of "EVENING WILL COME. THEY WILL SEW THE BLUE SAIL" and shows the text next to a "sil" which is also a gnomon for a sun dial. This gives the work a different meaning from the later famous print (see separate listing here in prints for a long discussion of that work). The use of a sun dial visual pun emphasises the role of time in this work much more than in the later evolution of the idea. The photograph was taken by Jim Styes

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