Collection: Ian Hamilton Finlay

Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925–2006, Nassau, Bahamas/Scotland) was a Scottish poet, artist and garden designer whose practice moved from concrete poetry in the 1960s toward a complex visual art rooted in classical allusion, the French Revolution and the aesthetics of warfare. His garden and philosophical estate Little Sparta, created from 1966 near Dunsyre in the Scottish borders, became one of the most significant artworks produced in Britain in the twentieth century. Finlay participated in major international exhibitions including Documenta 6 in 1977 and was included in The Sculpture Show at the Hayward Gallery and Serpentine Gallery, London, 1983.