Ian Hamilton Finlay
Fragments
Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg
Ian Hamilton Finlay
Ian Hamilton Finlay (b. 1925, Nassau, Bahamas; d. 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland) studied at the Glasgow School of Art and was a poet, a gardener and an artist. Oftentimes he combined his passions, for example when composing a poem to be inscribed into stone and put as a sculpture into a natural environment. Themes of Finlay’s oeuvre, regardless of the medium, are classical literature from the ancient world, the French Revolution or the „Third Reich“. Also the motives of fishing, sailboats and guillotines are recurring. The execution of Finlays work was often left to „collaborators“ (other artists, craftsmen or illustrators) whom he would always mention notably. By Finlay’s skilled use of syntax and story telling, sophisticated by his lyrical philosophy, he breaks down complex issues into coherent notions and phrases, that drip of his wit and dry humor. Read more
Gallery Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2014
-
Terra Mare, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2008
-
Ian Hamilton Finlay - Druckgrafik, Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany
2007
-
Letters & numbers, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
-
Victoria Miro Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2006
-
Kewenig Galerie, Cologne, Germany
-
Stampa, Basel, Switzerland
2005
-
David Nolan Gallery, New York, USA
-
Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
2004
-
souvenirs, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
-
Art of the Garden, Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom
-
Ian Hamilton Finlay Prints, 1963-2004, Pine Weber Gallery, New York, USA
2003
-
Idylls and Interventions, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, United Kingdom
-
Maritime Works, Nolan/Eckman Gallery, New York, USA
2002
-
Maritime Works, Tate St. Ives, United Kingdom
-
Blast to Freeze, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
2001
-
Souvenirs – Postcards by Ian Hamilton Finlay, The Scottish National Gallery of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland
2000
-
Garden Works, Nolan/ Eckman Gallery, New York, USA
-
Ian Hamilton Finlay/ Richard Tuttle, Stampa, Basel, Switzerland Nature over again after Poussin, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
1999
-
Variation on Several Themes, Joan Miro Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
1998
-
Modern Antiquities, Landesmuseum, Mainz, Germany
1997
-
Wild Hawthorn Press, Academie Beeldende Kunsten, Maastricht, Netherlands
-
Prints 1963 - 1997, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany
1995
-
Inscriptions, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Kiel, Germany
-
Works: Pure and Political, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
1993
-
Wildwachsende Blumen, Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany
1991
-
Malerisamling Lillehammer, Norway
-
Ideologische Äusserungen, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
-
Definitions, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Kiel, Germany
-
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA
-
Tate Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom
1990
-
Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
-
Christine Burgin, New York, USA
-
Holzwege, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, Germany
1989
-
1789 – 1794, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
1988
-
Musee d’Art Contemporain, Dunkerque, France
1987
-
Inter Artes et Naturam, Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
-
Midway, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France
1986
-
Marat Assasine and other works, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1980
-
Rijksmuseum Kroller-Mueller, Otterlo, Netherlands
1977
-
Serpentine Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1974
-
National Maritime Museum, London, United Kingdom
-
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland
Selected Group Exhibitions
2015
-
Gallery 3010, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
-
Bert de Beul, Elger Esser, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2008
-
Ian Hamilton Finlay, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
-
Barbican London, United Kingdom
2007
-
Camden Arts Centre, London, United Kingdom
-
Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, Germany
-
Stroom, Den Haag, Netherlands
-
Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany
-
Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen, Germany
-
Augarten Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
2006
-
Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
-
Tate Triennial, London, United Kingdom
2005
-
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, USA
-
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
-
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
2004
-
Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany
-
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland
-
Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom
2003
-
Mamco – muse d’art moderne et contemporain, Genf, Switzerland
2002
-
Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
2000
-
Tomorow for ever, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
-
Encounters, National Gallery London, United Kingdom
1999
-
Heads will Roll, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1998
-
Les Capteurs de rêves, 1re Biennale de Montréal, Canada
1997
-
Material Culture, Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1996
-
Schwere-Los - Skulpturen, Landesmuseum Linz, Austria
1995
-
LapisLazuli & Gold, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Kiel, Germany
1994
-
Das Jahrhundert des Multiple, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
1993
-
Words, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Kiel & Hamburg, Germany
-
Konfrontation, Museum Moderner Kunst, Groningen, Netherlands
-
Die Sprache der Kunst, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
1991
-
Rhetorical Image, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA
1990
-
Allegorie, Sfeir- Semler Gallery, Kiel, Germany
-
British Art Now: A Subjective View, Stagaya Art Museum, Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan
1989
-
Prospect ´89, Frankfurter Kunstverein/Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
-
Buhnen Stucke, Kunstverein Munich, Germany
-
Freiheit- Gleichheit – Brüderlichkeit, Germanisches Nationalmuseuem, Nürnberg, Germany
1988
-
Starlit Waters, British Sculpture 1968-88, Tate Gallery Liverpool, United Kingdom
1987
-
Documenta 8, Kassel, Germany
1983
-
Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Public Collections
-
– Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France
-
– The British Museum, London, UK
-
– Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, London, UK
-
– City Art Centre, Edinburgh, UK
-
– Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
-
– Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, UK
-
– Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, USA
-
– Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
-
– Harris Museum, Preston, UK
-
– Harvard University Museums, Cambridge, USA
-
– Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, UK
-
– Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK
-
– Landesmuseum Mainz, Mainz, Germany
-
– Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany
-
– Laumeier Sculpture Park, Saint Louis, USA
-
– Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France
-
– Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, France
-
– Tate Modern, London, UK
-
– Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
-
– mumok: Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria
-
– MoMA: Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
-
– National Maritime Museum, London, UK
-
– Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, The Netherlands
-
– Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, UK
-
– Scottish Maritime Museum, Ayrshire, UK
-
– Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
-
– Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, UK
-
– Scottish National Poetry Library, Edinburgh, UK
-
– Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
-
– Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgard, Germany
-
– V&A: Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
-
– Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands