Ian hamilton finlay biography of rory
The garden of Ian Hamilton Finlay tells the story of a resolute and witty character who forged an unexpected kingdom in the wild moors of....
Ian Hamilton Finlay & His Work
Ian Hamilton Finlay ( ) was a poet, writer, visual artist and gardener.
He is now internationally recognised for his work in each of these art forms.
Finlay was born in Nassau, the Bahamas, in Finlay’s father bootlegged alcohol from Nassau into the USA until the repeal of prohibition laws in , when he and Finlay’s mother unsuccessfully attempted to start an orange-growing business in Florida, before returning to Scotland in straitened circumstances.
Born in Nassau, Bahamas, Ian Hamilton Finlay was a philosopher, sculptor and poet who reinvigorated the classical tradition in his art.
Finlay himself had been sent to Scotland at the age of six, boarding first at Larchfield School near Helensburgh, then Dollar Academy.
He spent the years –45 between Glasgow, where he attended, or failed to attend, art school and befriended W.S.
Graham, and London, where he met the painters Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde. Undertaking national service with the Non-Combatant and Service Corps between and , he travelled to post-Nazi Germany. He was adopted as an accolyte by Hugh MacDiarmid,