In the Back of Every Dying Civilisation Sticks a Bloody Doric Column by Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925-2006) is a white page outlined in red containing a quote by Charles Jencks that references to the title and a quote by Finlay discussing that revolution's future, invisible by academics will lead to a 'perfect classical column'. The quotes create a reflective tone in the work about politics and revolution. 

Finlay often combined textual elements in his artwork to express a reflective message about the present impacting the future, particularly with references to civilisation and revolutions. He often expressed these sentiments to oppose failures of modernism, through his adoration for neoclassicism. 

Ian Hamilton Finlay CBE, 1925-2006

Although he studied at Glasgow School of Art, Finlay’s first creative success was as a writer. His discovery of concrete poetry in the 1960s was a major breakthrough in his practice and he began to produce booklets, posters, and wall-mounted works combining text and form. Major works of conceptual sculpture using text were produced by craftsmen to his specifications. Drawing on ideas from classical philosophy and the French Revolution, he began to exhibit widely and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1985. His garden at Little Sparta in the Pentland Hills, begun in 1966 and now looked after by a trust, is considered to be the finest manifestation of his work.