Ian Hamilton Finlay

Born in 1925 in Nassau, Bahamas, Ian Hamilton Finlay was a philosopher, sculptor and poet who reinvigorated the classical tradition in his art. Finlay's diverse production encompassed a variety of creative forms including prints, poems, books, inscriptions, neons, sculptures, permanent installations and landscape design, all celebrating the sustaining power of words. The purest kind of conceptual artist, Finlay was sensitive to the formalist concerns (colour, shape, scale, texture, composition) of literary and artistic modernism. In 1961 he founded Wild Hawthorn Press with Jessie McGuffie, mainly to introduce contemporary artists to Scotland, and which over the years came to concentrate exclusively on Finlay's printed works. His lifetime's work - the garden at Little Sparta, Stonypath, Scotland, begun in 1966 - most fully realises the movement of words and language into the world. Ian Hamilton Finlay died 27 March 2006, aged 80.

www.littlesparta.co.uk

www.ianhamiltonfinlay.com/

Exhibitions

Publications