Sea Poppy I (1968)

Ian Hamilton Finlay

etched (sandblasted) plate glass on wooden plinth

Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

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Classification:

Sculpture

Materials:

Glass

Physical Object Description:

Made in collaboration with A. Cant and Stuart Mills of Tarasque Press. The image is a circle of boat codes.

Dimensions:

34.9 x 30.5 x 6.3 cm

Accession Number:

T02408

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1979

Scheme:

Historic Purchase by Purchaser (1914-2008)

Ownership history:

Purchased from Wild Hawthorn Press, Carnwath by Gabrielle Keiller (1908-1995) for the Contemporary Art Society with a Scottish Arts Council grant, 1977; presented to Tate, 1979

Relationship:

Gabrielle Muriel Keiller Wild Hawthorn Press, Carnwath Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Subject:

Conceptual Art

This concrete art Sea Poppy I (1968), in which port letters and fishing numbers of fishing boats are arranged concentrically, designed in collaboration with Alistair Cant, was initially published by Stuart Mills's Tarasque Press as a screenprint in 1966. Sea poppies, a bright yellow horned flower (Glaucium flavum, Fam. Papaveraceae) grow on the sea shores of Great Britain and Europe. A version of ‘Sea Poppy I’ in calligraphic form designed by Finlay and George L. Thomson and executed in glass reinforced concrete was installed in Finlay's garden at Stonypath in 1978. Postcard versions of both ‘Sea Poppy I’ and ‘Sea Poppy II’ were also published by Finlay's Wild Hawthorn Press in 1968. And in the same year, Finlay also commissioned glass versions of ‘Sea Poppy I’ and ‘Sea Poppy II’ from T. and W. Ide, Glasshouse Fields, London E1. Each was made in an edition of six; some were of plain glass and others were blue or amber. They are sandblasted glass poems, or concrete poetry, which can be placed on a windowsill, side-lit, and viewed from either side.

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