IAN HAMILTON FINLAY: Fragments: Celebrating the Artist's Centennial

David Nolan Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition marking the centenary of Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925–2006).

Fragments is the title of 8 exhibitions celebrating Ian Hamilton Finlay simultaneously in the USA, England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Spain in May 2025.

Ian Hamilton Finlay, one of Scotland’s most celebrated artists, poets, and philosophers, revitalized the classical tradition in a body of work that encompasses a variety of creative forms to celebrate the sustaining power of words. He is renowned for Little Sparta, his poetic garden in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh. He significantly influenced the concrete poetry movement, and his extensive printed poetical and graphical works were published by Wild Hawthorn Press, which he co-founded in 1961. His visual art work, achieved in collaboration with expert artists and craftspeople, can be found in museums, parks and gardens worldwide.

At the core of Finlay’s work is the word—written, typed, engraved, or as a neon sign. Through short sentences, he skillfully distills complex ideas into a few words. Drawing from philosophy, history, and mythology, Finlay developed, over nearly forty years, an ambiguous body of conceptual work. His concrete poetry, where the form of the words is as important as their meaning, challenges Western cultural values through references to Ancient Greece, World War II, the French Revolution, and more.

David Nolan Gallery has shown Finlay's work for over 30 years.

Ian Hamilton Finlay: Fragments  will be on view in May 2025 at

David Nolan Gallery, New York
Victoria Miro, London
Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh
Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg
Stampa Galerie, Basel
Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna
Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia
Kewenig Gallery, Palma de Mallorca

accompanied by

Ian Hamilton Finlay: Fragments

A new book edited by Pia Maria Simig with 100 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. Published in 2025 by ACC Art Books.