Images(2)

Fructidor (The Republican Calendar)

ArtistDesigned/Sent by Ian Hamilton Finlay (Nassau, Bahamas, 1925 - 2006)

Artist Kathleen Lindsley (Gibraltar, born 1951)

RecipientReceived by Joyce Laing (Aberdeen, Scotland, 1939 - 2022)

PublisherPublished by Wild Hawthorn Press (founded 1961)

Date1992

Object NameFolding Card

Mediumcard, ink

ClassificationsPrints

DimensionsFolded: 15.3 x 15.3cm

AcquisitionPresented in 2010 by Joyce Laing OBE.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG017575

About MeFolding card (like a greetings card) co-designed by Ian Hamilton Finlay and Kathleen Lindsley, published by the Wild Hawthorn Press. It features a diagrammatic image of a fruitbasket containing 10 items, each labelled, e.g. Eglantine rose, Hazelnut, Hops, Seville orange, etc. On the front (and continued on the back) is an explanation that these 10 items represent the days of the third 'week' of Fructidor ('Month of Fruit') in the Republican Calendar (1793-1805) composed by Fabre d'Eglantine. The calendar was intended to allegorise the French Revolution as a new beginning in history by poetically renaming the twelve months and dividing each into three weeks of ten days. Inside is a handwritten message dated 12.9.92 from Ian Hamilton Finlay to Joyce Laing.

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.