29 Aug LE LYCESS CHASES. 1987.
Dusseldorf: Stadtische Kunsthalle, 1987 21 x 10cm, 6pp announcement card - internally one work (Les Reserves, 1987) in colour and museum text. VG+....
16 Aug RESERVES. 1987.
NYC: Marian Goodman Gallery, n.d. (1987)
21 x 10cm, 4pp. Announcement brochure for a solo show with a large scale installation of second hand clothing folded and stacked and placed under spotlights. The work hints at the removal and theft of the Jewish cloths of the murdered victims of the Nazis but as usual for the artist the anonymity is important - the lack of information allows projection of ideas onto the work. There is a colour image of the installation on the inside of the leaflet. VG+.
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20 Jul A FAVOURITE SUBJECT OF ART. 1987.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987
4 x 9.4cm, 4pp. Artist's attack postcard with internally:
Headley and Meulenkamp are being flayed alive -
Cape and The National Trust are growing ass-ears."
Finlay curses his enemies with imagery found in renaissance art and, in particular, the painting Apollo and Marsyas. VG+.
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08 Jul THE WORLD OF IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. c. 1987.
London: s.p., n.d. (c. 1987)
15 x 10.5cm, 1pp. Eight different cheaply printed postcards attacking Finlay by the Guardian art critic who had fallen out with the poet.
The attempt at parodying Finlay in a format popularised by the artist is mostly awful. Possibly one card hits the mark but the appropriation of an image from Anselm Kiefer of the artist "heil hitler"-ing is shameful, and most are poor attempts at revenge - one might forgive the drawing of Little Sparta with enemies all around, but the attack on Finlay for not being Scots is simply stupid (Finlay's parents were of Scottish heritage and Januszczak's one possible place of moral high ground was for Finlay's ill advised call for his repatriation given he was British), the claim of hypocrisy over bursaries does not stand up (Finlay took nothing after the dispute with the Arts Council), and the aggressive quote from FInlay whilst slightly damaging is just an example of Finlay's polemic when angry. Angry letters are not meant to be poetry.
Here is a hard truth for Waldemar Januszczak, when he has gone and his columns in a newspaper long forgotten (most newspaper articles are forgotten in a week after all) Finlay will still be celebrated for his artistic achievements. That must hurt. All VG+. Very scarce.
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28 Jun A REMEMBRANCE OF ANNETTE. THE RUSCHHAUS PROPOSAL. 1987.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987
four gr
13.8 × 15cm, outer folder with printed tipped on label and inside a 9pp (printed recto only) accordion folded sheet with drawings of four gravestones and two plans of the installation for a memorial garden for Annetee von Droste-Hulshoff (1797 - 1848), a 19th-century German writer and composer. The drawings were by Gary Hincks. This is one of two booklets relating to the proposals for a memorial. Unusually for Finlay's proposals both publications might be regarded as artist's books in this format but we have placed them in the same section that the Wild Hawthorn Press used for their listings. VG.
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18 Jun TWO COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHS OF SCULPTURES 1987.
Two colour photographs (both 10 x 15cm) of two sculptural works by Finlay - Anchors were cast and Sterns stood. Exact date unknown but circa 1987.
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16 Apr IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. 1987.
San Diego: Stuart Collection University of California, 1987
21 x 15cm, 4pp card for the installation of a new work by Finlay at the university UNDA. Unda is Latin for Wave and the work is sculptural. In the middle pages of the card a Finlay work (with Gary Hincks) is reproduced - it is not the same work as installed but the inscription at the bottom of the card is the same as the work on stone. VG+.
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09 Apr LE LYCEE CHASES. 1987. SIGNED BY BOLTANSKI.
Saint-Ettienne: La Mason de la Culture et de Communication de Saint-Ettiene, 1987
18 x 12cm, 42pp plus wrappers. Artist's book issued also as the catalogue for the solo exhibition. The book shows the photograph "Classe Terminale du Lycee Chases en 1931 Castelgasse Vienne" on the title page followed by enlargements of each of the faces of the children (not the teacher) - one each on a page. The final page of the book is an installation view showing the photographs displayed on the walls each with a lamp light above it.
We explain this work elsewhere. This example is signed in pencil on the title page. VG+.
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27 Dec DETACHED SENTENCES ON WEATHER. 1986. ONE OF 200 COPIES
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
18.3 x 12cm, 20pp and card covers along with flower pattern dust jacket and printed tipped on label. The full title of the book is "Detached Sentences on Weather In The Manner of William Shenstone".
Shenstone was not only an 18th century poet but also an influential early estate gardener. The texts are a series of aphorisms by Finlay which are presumably in the style of the earlier poet and all consider the importance of the weather - a subject very important to both gardeners and British people. Two examples of these sayings are:
"The Late Night Shipping Forecast is a kind of High Church Weather Service for radio listeners."
Or
"The Greeks before Troy feared hostile weather as much as hostile Trojans."
One of only 200 such books printed at Christmas as presents to friends and colleagues. Two small vignettes by Jo Hincks. VG+.
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15 Dec SOMEWHERE IN THE WOOD. 1986. WITH EXTENSIVE GREETING BY FINLAY. FIRST EDITION.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
12.4 x 18.6cm, 4pp Christmas card black on handmade paper with the text:
Somewhere in the wood was shining the
little red lantern of Christmas...
01 Nov TURNING OVER THE PAGES. 1986. WITH BOUND IN FINLAY FOLDING CARD.
Cambridge: Kettle's Yard, 1986
21 x 15cm, 56pp. Original wrappers . An exhibition catalogue for a show of artist's books which included Christian Boltanski, Annette Messager, John Latham, Anslem Kiefer and Finlay amongst others. Short texts on each artist. This is more notable however for the bound in 14 x 8cm, 8pp original artist's book by Finlay (which was also published elsewhere by the Wild Hawthorn Press) - Two Billows - from 1980. The blue booklet has on one side of the centre pages the text: "greeness, leaf or bark: and on the other "greeness, leaf or barque" - this changes the image from a tree being blown around to that of a boat being pushed by the wind. We are placing this item in the Page Works & Contributions section but it could be equally be found in artist's books or exhibition catalogues. VG+.
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01 Oct MONUMENTS. LECONS DE TENEBRES. 1986.
Paris: Association Francaíse d`Action Artistiqu, 1986
19.5 x 13cm, 256pp plus wrappers. First edition of this artist's book published during the 42e Biennale de Venise. There are 110 b/w images of various faces taken from Boltanski's collection of found portraits and group shots which are presented without any background information at all although they were all exhibited in the associated exhibition in Venice in the usual manner of the artist (with lights and various trappings of religious monuments). There is a preface in French, English and Italian by Suzanne Pagé. Slight faint stains on front cover else VG+. Scarce.
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