"Nature is the Devil in a fancy waistcoat."
ArtistDesigned/Sent by
Ian Hamilton Finlay
(Nassau, Bahamas, 1925 - 2006)
RecipientReceived by
Joyce Laing
(Aberdeen, Scotland, 1939 - 2022)
PrinterPrinted by
Wild Hawthorn Press
(founded 1961)
Date1987
Object NameCard
Mediumcard, ink
ClassificationsPrints
Dimensions12.1 x 15.2cm
AcquisitionPresented in 2010 by Joyce Laing OBE.
Copyright© Estate of Ian Hamilton Finlay (2009)
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG017511
About MeCard designed by Ian Hamilton Finlay and printed on one side (like a postcard) by the Wild Hawthorn Press. On the reverse of the card is Joyce Laing's address, written in Ian Hamilton Finlay's handwriting, and an 18p stamp postmarked 10 May 1988. It features the following text between two horizontal borders of an abstract green camouflage pattern: "Nature is the Devil in a fancy waistcoat."
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Translation for out time:
"Nature is a storm trooper in a camouflage smock."
Ian Hamilton Finlay
Wild Hawthorn Press, Little Sparta, Dunsyre, Lanark, Scotland.
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.
