About this artwork

As a regular sailor, the sea has been a major theme in Ian Hamilton Finlay’s work throughout his career. He is fascinated with its powerful and untameable beauty which he evokes with simple language and materials. References to ships and boats also frequent his practice. ‘A LAST WORD: RUDDER’ is a text work which is hand painted directly onto the wall using household paint to create blue and brown letters. The phrase in this work has been used elsewhere many times by the artist – for example he carved it into a wooden rudder in 1999, and used it as the title of an artist book in the same year, which was published by Wild Hawthorn Press, the publishing house he founded with Jessie McGuffie in 1961.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
  • title:
    A LAST WORD: RUDDER
  • date created:
    1999
  • materials:
    Household paint on wall
  • measurements:
    Overall dimensions variable
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Presented by the Estate of Ian Hamilton Finlay 2009
  • accession number:
    AR01125
  • gallery:
This artwork is part of Artist Rooms
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Ian Hamilton Finlay

Ian Hamilton Finlay