Ian Hamilton Finlay. Reap The Sac Faction. Wild Hawthorn Press, 1985

Lithograph printed in black and red with a large sickle surrounding a typographic design. Below this are a series of 20 names, including Professor Jan McDonald, Charles Gallacher, Professor Isi Metzstein, all of whom where members of the Scottish Arts Council in 1985. Ian Hamilton Finlay sent a copy to Alastair Grieve in a brown manila envelope postmarked 15 June 1985. The slogan "Saint-Just Vigilantes Slip the Black Spot to the SAC Twenty Two" was stamped on the front of the envelope in blue ink.

Ian Hamilton Finlay made this work on the second anniversary of what he termed, The Battle of Little Sparta, which took place on the 4th of February 1983 at his property, Stonypath Farm, near Edinburgh, when the sheriff officer of Strathclyde regional council attempted to seize works of art from the property in lieu of unpaid building rates. “The council categorised the structure, originally a barn, as an art gallery, whereas Finlay claimed it was a garden temple. The garden was, in Finlay’s words, “a place apart, if you like, a religious place", and the building in question "developed naturally into one which performs the normal functions of temples in classical gardens". The sheriff officer, acting in the role of bailiff, was confronted by a group of Finlay's supporters known as the Saint-Just Vigilantes, after the French revolutionary remembered for the "spartan" nature of his philosophy.” Stonypath farm was henceforth known as Little Sparta. The ongoing dispute became the central concern of Finlay’s later work. – Text from James Campbell’s article ‘Avant Gardener’ in The Guardian, Saturday May 31, 2003

Title: Reap The Sac Faction, Join the Saint-Just Vigilantes
Author: Ian Hamilton Finlay
Publisher: The Wild Hawthorn Press, Scotland
Format: Lithograph 27.9 x 18.4 cm folded twice as issued. Enclosed within the original envelope sent from Ian Hamilton Finlay to Alastair Grieve postmarked 15 June 1985.
Pages: 1
Condition: Fine. Folded as issued.
Provenance: The library of art historian Alastair Grieve
Collections: Museum of Modern Art, Antwerp; Kröller-Müller Museum, The Netherlands; Aberdeen Archives, Galleries and Museums;
Stock Number: RB02031