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The Desmoulins Connection
The Desmoulins Connection
The Desmoulins Connection

The Desmoulins Connection

Artist (Nassau, Bahamas, 1925 - 2006)
Date1987
Object NamePlace Card
Mediumcard, ink
ClassificationsPrints
DimensionsCard, folded: 4.6 x 10cm
Envelope: 8.8 x 15.2cm
Poem: 17.5 x 14.8cm
AcquisitionPresented in 2010 by Joyce Laing OBE.
Copyright© Estate of Ian Hamilton Finlay (2009)
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG017436
About MeSet of three folding place cards, each printed with a different quote on a different colour of card (red, blue and yellow). The quotes make critical reference to Waldemar Januszczack, art critic of the Guardian, in connection with the "Follies War" with the National Trust. The cards are purportedly issued by the Committee of Public Safety, Little Sparta, Dunsyre, Lanark, Scotland. They were found in an envelope addressed to Joyce Laing along with a poem type-written onto one side of a small sheet, presumably enclosed by the artist when he sent these cards to Laing. It reads as follows:

From 'Parisien Clerihews'

Catherine Millet
Donned something frilly.
It was part of a secret plan
Formed with Louis Cane.

(Catherine Millet is a French writer, art critic, curator and founder of the magazine 'Art Press'; Louis Cane is a French sculptor and painter.)

This work is part of an archive that belonged to Joyce Laing, OBE. The artist, Ian Hamilton Finlay, was a personal friend and sent her an example of each new poem print and multiple as it was made.
Thoughts on Waldemar
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1987
The Desmoulins Connection
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1988
The Desmoulins Connection
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1988
The Desmoulins Connection
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1988
Head of Waldemar Januszczak
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1987
Louis Treize
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1987
Basta
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1988
Advertising Fascism*
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1987
Monostich for the French Election
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1988-1989
The Desmoulins Connection
Ian Hamilton Finlay
c.1988
A Tree of Liberty
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1990
"Cruel and ingenious sophists..."
Ian Hamilton Finlay
c.1988
From 'Clerihews for Liberals'
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1987
From 'Clerihews for Liberals'
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1987
February 4. Nothing!
Ian Hamilton Finlay
1987