Ian hamilton finlay biography of donald
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This is a personal portrait of the Scottish poet and artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, his life and work, bygd Christopher McIntosh, his friend of nearly three decades, who took part in many of his battles and campaigns. McIntosh recounts Finlay's emergence as an avant-garde writer and poet in the 1950s, the creation, tillsammans with his wife Sue, of his famous garden at his home Stonypath-Little Sparta in Lanarkshire, his espousal of the ideals of the French Revolution, his defence of classical values, his idiosyncratic struktur of hedendom (Little Sparta was dedicated to Apollo), his struggle against what he called the “secular terror”, his many battles (with the local taxation authorities, with the French cultural establishment, with publishers and with authors who misunderstood his work. In many ways he was a paradoxical figure on the cultural scene – a contemporary artist who opposed modern culture and fiercely upheld tradition, in other words a kind of radical traditionalist. Having been titta
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The Death of Piety
Do you think this might be the reason why some critics find your work so challenging? Not only because of its variety of artistic genres and materials, but also because of its complex relationship with the classical? Duncan Glen, for example, concludes that the only way to come to terms with your work is simply by accepting its ‘rich ambiguities’ [Note 7].
‘Ambiguous’, of course, implies disapproval, but to me it could also mean ‘complicated’. However, this is not what they mean, they mean that they disapprove of it; that it is not politically correct, that it is unfashionable; or out with the pressure of fashion in them, or something like that.
Does your work consciously challenge ‘fashionable’ artistic categories?
No, I don’t make my work in order to challenge or confuse other people’s expectations — I only do what I find natural. But my work seems different to these people’s expecta
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IAN HAMILTON FINLAY
(BRITISH, 1925–2006)
Four Shades, 1994
elm, sycamore, pine and basswood trees, Kentucky bluegrass sod and topsoil
840 x 840 inches, variable height
Laumeier Sculpture Park Commission, with funds from Aurelia and George Schlapp
Ian Hamilton Finlay’s Four Shades, 1994, is a way of seeing nature through art. Using elm, sycamore, pine and basswood trees planted on a circular mound, this earthwork is a visual translation of a quote from the classical Roman poet Virgil, a literal rendition of the “four shades” described in his poem Georgic IV, written in 29 B.C.E. This “arrangement” provides a subtle and mysterious haven for rest and contemplation within the Park grounds that will transform over time by way of the changing seasons and the growth and maturation of the trees.
Taking what he calls the classical approach to improving nature through human manipulation, this thoughtfully constructed garden also demonstrates Finlay’s interest in recreating