Screenprint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ian-hamilton-finlay-1093" aria-label="More by Ian Hamilton Finlay" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Ian Hamilton Finlay</a>
Midway II
Purchased 1983
abstraction
birth to death
history
inscriptions
Latin text
memorial
Midway, Battle, 3-6 Jun 1942
military: World War II
non-representational
society
symbols and personifications
text
<p>The American defeat of Japan at the Battle of Midway in June 1942 was one of the decisive moments in the war in the Pacific. Finlay represents the aircraft carriers as beehives, fuelling their warriors with honey and sending them out to attack the enemy hive. The rosebushes represent the vast distance of ocean that separated the rival fleets, which never came into sight of each other. The accompanying print uses Latin text to commemorate the ships that perished in the battle. Finlay associates Latin with the epic nature of warfare.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2008</em></p>
paper print screenprint
Midway II
image: 565 × 687 mm
Purchased 1983
<p>The American defeat of Japan at the Battle of Midway in June 1942 was one of the decisive moments in the war in the Pacific. Finlay represents the aircraft carriers as beehives, fuelling their warriors with honey 
<br/>and sending them out to attack the enemy hive. The rosebushes represent the vast distance of ocean that separated the rival fleets, which never came into sight of each other. The accompanying <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> uses Latin text to commemorate the ships that perished in the battle. Finlay associates Latin with the epic nature of warfare.</p>

Display caption
2008-07-30T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/finlay-midway-ii-p07933" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07933</span></a> <b>Midway II</b> 1977
<br/>
<br/>Two screenprints [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/finlay-midway-i-p07932" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07932</span></a>-<span>P07933</span>] each approx. 22 1/4 × 27 (565 × 687), printed at Girdwood and published by the Wild Hawthorn Press in an edition of about 300
<br/>Not inscribed
<br/>Purchased from the artist (Grant-in-Aid) 1983
<br/>
<br/>The Battle of Midway in June 1942 marked the turn of the war in the Pacific to America's favour. Finlay's image, composed of a sheet of lettering in Latin and English at the right and an image of beehives with the names of ships at the left, represents the Japanese and American aircraft carriers whose planes, fuelled by petrol piped like honey through hives, flew far to engage the enemy, although the ships themselves did not come in sight of one another. The rosebushes represent the lush distances of ocean which concealed the rival fleets. Finlay frequently uses Latin, as in this and other works described here, to signify the epic or the arcane.
<br/>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><i>The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions</i>, London 1986
<br/>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><i>The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions</i>, London 1986
<br/>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-07-26T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction birth to death history inscriptions Latin text memorial Midway, Battle, 3-6 Jun 1942 military: World War II non-representational society symbols and personifications text