Images(4)

Thermidor

Artist Ian Hamilton Finlay (Nassau, Bahamas, 1925 - 2006)

Artist Laurie Clark (New York City, New York, USA, born 1949)

PublisherPublished by Wild Hawthorn Press (founded 1961)

Date1989

Object NameBooklet

Mediumpaper, ink

ClassificationsPrints

Dimensions21.3 x 14.8 x 0.6cm

AcquisitionPresented in 2010 by Joyce Laing OBE.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG017642.2

About MeBooklet co-designed by Ian Hamilton Finlay and Laurie Clark printed onto rough brown paper and stapled. The front and back covers bear line drawings of watering cans decorated with a rosettes. There are ten internal pages that feature the following drawings and titles (in both French and English): EPEAUTRE (German wheat), BOUILLON-BLANC (Mullein), MELON (Melon), IVRAIE (Corn-cockle), BELIER (Ram), PRELE (Mare's tail), ARMOISE (Mug-wort), CARTHAME (Safflower), MURES (Blackberries) and ARROSOIR (Watering-can). The penultimate page contains an explanation that these ten illustrations are based on the Republican Calendar, which was composed by the poet Fabre d'Eglantine in 1793. The first Republican week of Thermidor (the month of Heat) is illustrated here as a commemoration of the Robespierrests who were executed during this week in 1794.

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.