Little Sparta
Encyclopedia
Little Sparta is a garden at Dunsyre
in the Pentland Hills
near Edinburgh
, created by artist and poet Ian Hamilton Finlay
and his wife Sue Finlay.
The 5 acres (2 ha) Arcadian
garden includes concrete poetry
in sculptural form, polemic
, and philosophical aphorism
s, together with sculptures and two temples. Altogether it includes over 275 artworks by the artist, created in collaboration with numerous craftsmen and women.
and Sparta
. Little Sparta survived numerous disputes, or "Wars" as Finlay termed them, regarding the rating of the Garden Temple. Finlay lived there until shortly before his death in 2006.
Over their 23-year collaboration Ian Hamilton Finlay and Sue Finlay established Little Sparta as an internationally renowned composition,a combination of avant-garden experiment, Scottish wit and whimsy and the English landscape garden tradition. It comprised the front garden, the most intimate space, with many examples of Finlay’s ‘garden poems’; a woodland garden, extending around a small pool; and a series of paths, areas and sculptures in the wilder hillside landscape. Finlay conceived the garden as composed around inter-connected pools, burns and a small loch, Lochan Eck.
Finlay later extended the garden, in the 1990s, creating a small English Parkland in the former paddock. A walled garden, ‘Hortus Conclusus’, was added after his death. These areas were created in collaboration with Pia Simig and Ralph Irving.
Sue Finlay, who undertook the majority of the planting and cultivation, describes the generosity of this creative process in her memoir 'The Planting of a Hillside Garden: “The learning process. The love involved in this process. That loving absorption - the day to day tending of the poems. Their immediate surrounding areas, whether paved, grassy or covered with plants, always needed a lot of individual attention in the summer.”
, and gallery owner Victoria Miro. The garden is open to the public on a limited basis.
In December 2004, a poll of fifty Scottish artists, gallery directors and arts professionals, conducted by Scotland on Sunday
, voted Little Sparta as "the nation's greatest work of art". Art historian Sir Roy Strong
has said of Little Sparta that it is "the only really original garden made in this country since 1945".
Dunsyre
Dunsyre is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is 6 miles from Carnwath . Dunsyre is associated with an ancient barony and parish church...
in the Pentland Hills
Pentland Hills
The Pentland Hills are a range of hills to the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around 20 miles in length, and runs south west from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale.Some of the peaks include:* Scald Law...
near Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, created by artist and poet Ian Hamilton Finlay
Ian Hamilton Finlay
Ian Hamilton Finlay, CBE, was a Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener.-Biography:Finlay was born in Nassau, Bahamas of Scottish parents. He was educated in Scotland at Dollar Academy. At the age of 13, with the outbreak of World War II, he was evacuated to family in the countryside...
and his wife Sue Finlay.
The 5 acres (2 ha) Arcadian
Arcadia (utopia)
Arcadia refers to a vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an...
garden includes concrete poetry
Concrete poetry
Concrete poetry or shape poetry is poetry in which the typographical arrangement of words is as important in conveying the intended effect as the conventional elements of the poem, such as meaning of words, rhythm, rhyme and so on....
in sculptural form, polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
, and philosophical aphorism
Aphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
s, together with sculptures and two temples. Altogether it includes over 275 artworks by the artist, created in collaboration with numerous craftsmen and women.
History
The garden was first established in 1966, and was originally named Stonypath. Finlay chose the name "Little Sparta" in 1983, in response to Edinburgh's nickname, the "Athens of the North", and playing on the historical rivalry between the Ancient Greek cities AthensClassical Athens
The city of Athens during the classical period of Ancient Greece was a notable polis of Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Hippias...
and Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
. Little Sparta survived numerous disputes, or "Wars" as Finlay termed them, regarding the rating of the Garden Temple. Finlay lived there until shortly before his death in 2006.
Over their 23-year collaboration Ian Hamilton Finlay and Sue Finlay established Little Sparta as an internationally renowned composition,a combination of avant-garden experiment, Scottish wit and whimsy and the English landscape garden tradition. It comprised the front garden, the most intimate space, with many examples of Finlay’s ‘garden poems’; a woodland garden, extending around a small pool; and a series of paths, areas and sculptures in the wilder hillside landscape. Finlay conceived the garden as composed around inter-connected pools, burns and a small loch, Lochan Eck.
Finlay later extended the garden, in the 1990s, creating a small English Parkland in the former paddock. A walled garden, ‘Hortus Conclusus’, was added after his death. These areas were created in collaboration with Pia Simig and Ralph Irving.
Concepts
The key concept Ian established at Little Sparta was that of the ‘garden poem', sited within an ‘area’. Finlay defined the relationship between these poem-objecs and their surroundings: “Usually each area gets a small artefact, which reigns like a small deity or spirit of place. My understanding is that the work is the whole composition - the artefact in its context. The work is not an isolated object, but an object with flowers, plants, trees, water and so on.”Sue Finlay, who undertook the majority of the planting and cultivation, describes the generosity of this creative process in her memoir 'The Planting of a Hillside Garden: “The learning process. The love involved in this process. That loving absorption - the day to day tending of the poems. Their immediate surrounding areas, whether paved, grassy or covered with plants, always needed a lot of individual attention in the summer.”
Preservation
The garden is now owned by the Little Sparta Trust, which plans to preserve the garden for the future by raising enough to pay for an ongoing maintenance fund. Trustees include journalist Magnus LinklaterMagnus Linklater
Magnus Linklater is a Scottish journalist and former newspaper editor.-Life:Linklater was born in Orkney, and is the son of Scottish writer Eric Linklater. He was brought up in Easter Ross, attending the local school at Nigg before moving to high school in Dunbar, East Lothian, and then on to Eton...
, and gallery owner Victoria Miro. The garden is open to the public on a limited basis.
In December 2004, a poll of fifty Scottish artists, gallery directors and arts professionals, conducted by Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by The Scotsman Publications Ltd and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate The Scotsman...
, voted Little Sparta as "the nation's greatest work of art". Art historian Sir Roy Strong
Roy Strong
Sir Roy Colin Strong FRSL is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London...
has said of Little Sparta that it is "the only really original garden made in this country since 1945".
Further reading
- Jesse Sheeler and Andrew Lawson. Little Sparta: The Garden of Ian Hamilton Finlay. (2003).
- Robin Gillanders. Little Sparta. (1998).
- John Dixon HuntJohn Dixon HuntJohn Dixon Hunt is an English-born landscape historian. His work particularly focuses on the time between the turn of the seventeenth through the end of the 18th centuries in France and England. Professor Hunt began his academic career teaching English literature...
. Nature Over Again: The Garden Art of Ian Hamilton Finlay (2008). - Alec Finlay. Wood Notes Wild: Essays on the Art and Poetry of Ian Hamilton Finlay (1995).
- New Arcadian Journal, (No. 61/62, Patrick Eyres (ed.), New Arcadian Press, 2007, ISBN0262-558X
External links
- Little Sparta Trust
- Little Sparta – Images
- http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120464784733&ref=mf