Ian Hamilton Finlay – Fragments -opens in May

This is just one of a series of exhibitions to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ian Hamilton Finlay who died in 2006.

Fragments is a book and there will be eight exhibitions in Basel, Brescia, Hamburg, London, New York, Palma de Mallorca, Vienna and Edinburgh. All are curated and edited by Pia Maria Simig.

The landscape designer, poet and artist put new life into a body of work in a variety of forms. He is best known for Little Sparta in the Pentlands where he lived and worked for the last four decades of his life. He co-founded Wild Hawthorn Press in 1961 where his printed poetical and graphical works are published. And his visual art is in museums, parks and gardens all over the world.

At Ingleby it is sculpture which will be the focus of the exhibition with a group of installations dating from the 1980s and 90s. The works will include Three Columns, Capital, and Five Finials.

The book Ian Hamilton Finlay: Fragments will be published on 8 May 2025 by ACC Art Books and edited by Pia Maria Simig, Fragments draws together one hundred works by Ian Hamilton Finlay, each accompanied by a short, fragmentary text by the artist and myriad distinguished writers who wrote about Finlay’s work during his lifetime.

It features introductory essays by Stephen Bann (CBE, Emeritus Professor of History of Art at the University of Bristol) and Tom Lubbock (chief art critic of The Independent from 1997 until his death in 2011) and includes 100 full colour plates. Additional texts by: Yves Abrioux, Stephen Bann, Prudence Carlson, Patrick Duncombe, Julia Eames, Patrick Eyres, Alec Finlay, Ian Hamilton Finlay, George Gilliland, Harry Gilonis, and Tom Lubbock. Designed by John and Orna Designs.

Little Sparta
On 24 January 2025, Ian Hamilton Finlay’s celebrated garden, Little Sparta, was devastated by Storm Éowyn. The task of putting the garden back to its original state has begun, and the hope is to open as usual this summer, but the Little Sparta Trust needs your support.

Anyone is invited to donate to the Little Sparta Trust’s urgent Storm Éowyn Damage Appeal.