Sundial

[poliphilo]

My friend the art historian Stephen Bann is compiling a list of garden sculptures by the Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay and writes for information about the sundial my mother commissioned from Finlay in the mid 70s. I'm delighted to be able to tell him that it's still in place and that my mother has all the documentation.

Before he got heavily into the Second World War and the French Revolution, Finlay had a thing about fishing boats. My mother's sundial belongs to this early stage of his career- and plays with the resemblance between a gnomon and a sail. 

Time passes swiftly- like a sail before the wind.....






(PS. This is the first time I've posted a picture of my mother. It was taken last summer.)

Comments

[sovay]

My friend the art historian Stephen Bann is compiling a list of garden sculptures by the Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay and writes for information about the sundial my mother commissioned from Finlay in the mid 70s.

That's wonderful. And great photographs.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

I sort of brokered the commission- so I feel a personal sense of achievement.

[sovay]

I sort of brokered the commission- so I feel a personal sense of achievement.

How did this happen?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Stephen Bann introduced me to Ian Finlay and I talked him up to my parents and persuaded them to spend £100 on the sundial.

£100! It seemed like a hell of a lot of money back then.