Skip to main content

Ian Hamilton Finlay

I suppose as an unashamed classicist, Cicero was always going to appreciate the works of Ian Hamilton Finlay- and I do. Therefore the news of his death prompts me to revisit his extraordinary work. Primarily known for his garden- Little Sparta- in the Pentland hills, Finlay was a much broader figure in Scottish culture than Little Sparta alone. His poetry, sculpture and elegant drawings, prints and paintings marked him out as a singular and unusual mind.

His struggle with authority marked him out further as a rebel, and occasionally even a revolutionary- his admiration for Robespierre's ally, St Just, being well known. Finlay's figurative work aspired to an elegance and purity of line that in some ways echoed the spare, almost Roman classicism of the early Napoleonic era. Yet Finlay was a truly Scottish figure in European sculpture- and in his admiration for Revolutionary France we could discern echoes of the revolutionary drinking clubs active in 18th Century Scotland, of which Robert Burns was a noted member.

I fear that Little Sparta may descend into a twee parody - yet the discerning will detect in his work there the spirit of an active and passionate believer in the rational and the human. An inspiring and forthright figure, his clarity will endure, I hope, long after his death.

Comments

James Waddington said…
I haven't seen any of his work for twenty years - now an opportunity to combine Little Sparta with some mountain biking at Glentress (the hardtail all terrain bike, another spare classical form).
11:42 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Concert and Blues

Tallinn is full tonight... Big concerts on at the Song field The Weeknd and Bonnie Tyler (!). The place is buzzing and some sixty thousand concert goers have booked every bed for thirty miles around Tallinn. It should be a busy high summer, but it isn´t. Tourism is down sharply overall. Only 70 cruise ships calling this season, versus over 300 before Ukraine. Since no one goes to St Pete, demand has fallen, and of course people think that Estonia is not safe. We are tired. The economy is still under big pressure, and the fall of tourism is a significant part of that. The credit rating for Estonia has been downgraded as the government struggles with spending. The summer has been a little gloomy, and soon the long and slow autumn will drift into the dark of the year. Yesterday I met with more refugees: the usual horrible stories, the usual tears. I try to make myself immune, but I can´t. These people are wounded in spirit, carrying their grief in a terrible cradling. I try to project hop
Post a Comment
Read more

Media misdirection

In the small print of the UK budget we find that the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the British Finance Minister) has allocated a further 15 billion Pounds to the funding for the UK track and trace system. This means that the cost of the UK´s track and trace system is now 37 billion Pounds.  That is approximately €43 billion or US$51 billion, which is to say that it is amount of money greater than the national GDP of over 110 countries, or if you prefer, it is roughly the same number as the combined GDP of the 34 smallest economies of the planet.  As at December 2020, 70% of the contracts for the track and trace system were awarded by the Conservative government without a competitive tender being made . The program is overseen by Dido Harding , who is not only a Conservative Life Peer, but the wife of a Conservative MP, John Penrose, and a contemporary of David Cameron and Boris Johnson at Oxford. Many of these untendered contracts have been given to companies that seem to have no notewo
Post a Comment
Read more

One Year On

  Head vabariigi iseseisvuspäeva! Happy Estonian Independence Day! It is one year since I stood outside the Estonian Parliament for the traditional raising of the national flag from Tall Hermann tower. Looking at the young fraternities gathered with their flags, I was very sure that Estonia too would soon be facing the aggression of the criminal Russian regime. A tragic and dark day. 5 eyes intelligence had been clear: an all out invasion was going to happen, and Putin´s goals included- and still include- "restoration" of Russian imperial power across Europe, even to the Atlantic. Yet there was one Western intelligence failure: we all underestimated the guts of the Ukrainian armed forces, the ZSU, and its President and people. One year on, Estonia, and indeed all the front line states against Russia, knows that Ukraine saved us. Estonia used that time to prepare itself, should that "delayed" onslaught ever be unleashed, but equally the determination of Kaja Kallas,
Post a Comment
Read more