17 Mar

Posted at 09:09h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (c. 1980)
16.2 x 22.9cm, printed envelope content of a selection of two artist's books (Woods and Seas, Two Billows) and four artist's cards (Snowbark, Birch-Bark, Cytheria and ARBRE (TREE))- while thematically about "woods and seas" as per the title the selection seems a little random and possibly simply filled with items from the Press that Finlay had many copies of (Two Billows was also bound into another publication about artist's books so one guesses over a 1,000 would have been needed to fulfil all those publications and to be a stand alone book which is almost three times Finlay's most common print run of 350). These items are all described elsewhere on this site so this entry is for completeness really. All VG+ in like envelope.

...

08 Dec

Posted at 11:39h in EXHIBITION CATALOGUES

Paris: Cheval d'attaque, 1979
22 x 16cm, 108pp plus pictorial card covers. An artist's book of sorts (although published on the occasion of the exhibition in la Maison de la Culture de Chalon-sur-Saone so may also be seen as an exhibition catalogue) in that five previously published works are reprinted in chronological order after a short interview between Irmeline Lebeer and Boltanski.
The reproduced works are Recherche et presentation de tout ce qui reste de mon enfance, Tout ce que je sais d'une femme...

18 Oct

Posted at 14:34h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Saint Pierre des Corps: J. & J., Centre Saint Pierre des Corps, 1979
19 x 13cm, 24pp plus original wrappers. Artist's book unusually created from a nine minute b/w film of the same name by Jacques Parart based on the artist's life as a young man. The book has original texts by Boltanski which are printed in poetic structures on the left of each double page and, on the opposite page, deliberately childlike drawings by Jennifer Gough-Cooper and Jacques Caumont. The stories are reminiscences of early childhood life with some rather important events (such as over-hearing that his grandfather had died while pretending to be asleep in bed).
VG+ condition. A scarce publication released at the same time as an exhibition "Boltanski, ouevres de 1974 - 1975". This was the last (for a period of years) of the artist's books based on recreations of his early life - after this exhibition a period of creating large photographic works from posed items dominated the artist's output.

...

18 Sep

Posted at 18:49h in Page Works & Contributions

London: Editions Poetry, 1979
24.5 x 18.8cm, 112pp plus original colour printed wrappers. the first number of this poetry and literature review which is notable for a full colour pull out of a reproduced lithograph by Graham Sutherland and work by Ted Hughes, Alan Brownjohn, Bernard Gutteridge, Iris Murdoch, Bob Dylan, Craig Raine, and many others. For our interest however the back cover is a reproduction of Finlay's rare print Le Circus! A VG+ copy.

...

25 Jun

Posted at 13:44h in DELUXE ARTIST’S BOOKS

Paris: Galilee, 1979
188 x 130 mm, unpaginated. Original wrappers with artist designed dust jacket. Artist’s book created from the novel by Touratier which Boltanski designed the dustjacket for - with images of shaped sugar cubes (which are to be found in the text). This is one of only 50 special editions in which Boltanski cut a hole in the middle of the book, glued a shaped sugar cube and then places a wire cage around the object. The colophon is signed and numbered in inky by the artist. A very rare artist book by Boltanski and surprisingly not found in any catalogue raisonne. VG+ condition.

...

15 Jun

Posted at 14:36h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Paris: Limage, 1979.
26 x 18.5cm, 144pp plus original card covers. Artist's book created y Pierre Tilman which has original contributions by Annette Messager, Pascal Doury, Peter Klassen, Urs Luthi, Jacques Monory, Arnulf Rainer and Bruno Richard as well as Boltanski.
Boltanski's contribution is 6pp and is Les Jardins Japonais which is a pair of photographs of a model garden in black and white with the lighting creating a strong polarisation of the images.
This is the first known printing of such an image from a model - similar works were later the main subjects of photographic works and artist's books such as Lanterne Magique in 1982. The style of the photographs showing a "trail" of light which bends over the pages is similar to later works also.
This book is not referenced in any catalogue raisonne. Very rare. VG+.

...

19 Apr

Posted at 16:59h in Artist's Books

London: Coracle Press, 1979
21 x 19cm. 40pp plus card covers with tipped on self-portrait. First edition of William's photographs of poets and artists with reminiscences. There are 30 tipped in colour reproductions including William Carlos Williams, Myrna Loy, Herbert Read, Allen Ginsberg, David Hockney, Dorothy Brett as well as Ian Hamilton Finlay. One of 1800 numbered copies. VG+.

...

07 Apr

Posted at 09:29h in EXHIBITION CATALOGUES

London: Serpentine Gallery, 1979
15 x 21cm, 32pp plus card covers. Group show in the UK with the participation of Annette Messager, Anne & Ptrick Poiret and others as well as Boltanski. The latter exhibited Japanese Gardens I - V (large colour images created using models and constructed backgrounds). Two images reproduced (one in colour, one in b/w) and a short text in English. Sadly this catalogue has some contemporary notes made by a critic on a number of the pages but the images of the works are not found elsewhere to our knowledge.

...

12 Jan

Posted at 19:27h in Joseph Beuys Postcards

Antwerpen: Ruimte Z, 1979
21 x 15cm, 6pp (single hand-folded sheet) black on grey. A "periodical" from the gallery (Nr 1) which announces a show of photographs of Beuys' Coyote aktion by Caroline Tisdall. Internal to the sheet is a text in Dutch "Coyote: I like America and America Likes me". Mild handling creases and a mailed, hand-addressed example. Else VG+.

...

10 Nov

Posted at 15:28h in Joseph Beuys Postcards

Frankfurt: Frankfurter Kunstverein, 1978
21 x 30cm, 2pp announcement leaflet for a group show of works and videos by Beuys, Joan Jonas, Rebecca Horn, Gerald Domenig, Nicole van den Plas, Christian Hanussek, Peter Scheich, Jorg Frank and others. On the reverse there is a graphic by Ben Vautier for a Fluxus Concert with works from Brecht, Paik, Higgins, Beuys,, Knowles, Filliou, Page, Koepcke, Jones, Andersen, Vostell, Young, Shiomi, and others performed by Ben. This example is signed in red felt tipped pen by Beuys with a blue Haupstrom rubber stamp impression over a photograph of an empty gallery space. VG+.

...

18 May

Posted at 17:02h in Proposals

N.p.(Edinburgh): Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners, 1978
21 x 30cm, 43pp plus printed glossy covers. A set of proposals by Finlay for architectural and sculptural interventions in the Peterhead Power Station which was to be build. The book was published by the architects as part of the proposals for the site. The drawings by Ian Appleton are given very clear explanations by Finlay - proposed are a wall of glass floats, four stones with carves words indicating the theoretical structure of classical and other universes in fours (suits of cards, directions, elements, primary colours), a maze made out of fishermen's nets (which we would dearly like to see realised), a large stone carving of the SEA'S WAVES'S SHEAVES (which was installed elsewhere eventually), a concrete poem TERRA/MARE to be carved in Caithness Stone, various inscriptions of natural boulders (including SEApink) to be placed on site which remind one of the later PEBBLES series of works, a sundial with the inscriptions Rete Luci Tentu/A Net for the Light, names of fishing boats carved into garden slabs, a large sculpture of a bronze oar placed on a hill far away from the station which would visually reflect the chimney of the newly built station and also be a sort of sundial gnomon along with a site layout which shows the various shadows cast by the oar on the landscape at different times, a large rock with "It's Scotland's Atlantis" carved on it (with the word oil crossed out) an unusually political work by Finlay, and, finally, a carved oar into the face of a heap of sawn boulders (referencing `Ullysses).
To the best of our knowledge none were actualised. The sheer number of wonderful ideas proffered by Finlay for this project is quite astonishing.
This is a wonderful book although the style of the architectural drawings are strange for a Finlay collaboration - one suspects he did not choose the artist.
Murray places this book in amongst other artist's books by Finlay but we have recategorised it as a "proposal" as it clearly is just that and because of the style of the book it does not feel or look like a Finlay publication. This is a rarity and very hard to find. VG+.

...

Shopping cart0
There are no products in the cart!
Continue shopping