Personal Geographies: Eileen Hogan at Little Sparta

PERSONAL EO RAP ES

Eileen Hogan at Little Sparta

This has been written in April 2020 Because of the coronavirus pandemic I am ‘landlocked’ in a small mews house in London without a garden.

Little Sparta has become part of my DNA, as it is for many people, and on 4 April its presence in my head and in my heart was enhanced by the Little Sparta newsletter arriving in my mailbox. This included head gardener George Gilliland’s diary with notes about the last few months and extensive damage caused by the recent storms. One of George’s beautiful photographs of the garden shows vertical drifting snow piled up on the gateway to the garden, completely obscuring the outer inscription A COTTAGE A FIELD A PLOUGH (the inscription on the other side of the gate reads THERE IS HAPPINESS).

Ian Hamilton Finlay never wanted visitors to see Little Sparta when its trees weren’t in leaf, but seeing it in winter reveals its fragility. In Unconnected Sentences on Gardening Ian wrote Certain gardens are described as retreats en t e are rea attac s. There is still a battle at Little Sparta.

Gardens are described as retreats when they are really attacks Ian Hamilton Finlay Unconnected Sentences on Gardening

From 1997 to 2013, I visited Little Sparta regularly, painting the garden and then, as I gradually got to know him, Ian. The first time was to collect Cathy Courtney who was making a life story recording with Ian for Artists’ Lives, an oral history project run by National Life Stories. My drive was stressful. Even though it was an early afternoon in September it was very dark and there was diagonal, icy rain. Then there was the narrow, steep track with menacing cows lined up on either side (I’m a Londoner through and through). Cathy and Ian were recording in the tiny conservatory attached to his cottage. I sat in the rain peering at them through the misty glass, and drawing. They had a break, and, in sudden glittering sunshine, we all walked around the garden. I later discovered that this change in weather is very characteristic of Little Sparta – it literally, as well as in other ways, exists in its own climate.

Above: Cathy Courtney and Ian Hamilton Finlay, Little Sparta, 1997, Photograph by Eileen Hogan.

Right: Eileen Hogan and Ian Hamilton Finlay, Little Sparta. 1997, Photograph by Cathy Courtney

I never expected Little Sparta to become so important to me and to provide long-term subject matter for my painting. Most of my life has been lived in London. When I am forced to categorise myself, I call myself a painter of urban green landscape. I am interested in the enclosed garden, the tension between the inside and the outside, withholding and disclosure, intimacy and distance, control and wildness. Apart from London, I have lived in Greece for a short time and became absorbed in archaeology, Greek philosophy, mythology and the politics of the time the 1970s during the military junta. Letterforms, words, their legibility and their relationship to images are a longterm passion. This can be seen in the books I have produced, and in my sketchbooks where drawing is muddled up with writing, lettering, lists and poetry.

Before my first visit to Little Sparta I knew of Ian as a concrete poet and a conceptual artist but not an artist gardener. My paintings have almost nothing to do with his work but I had an intense, immediate and emotional response to Little Sparta. It is an enclosed garden, although surrounded by moors rather than the London buildings that are familiar to me. It is full of words, poetry, echoes of classical philosophy and mythology, which resonated profoundly with me. There is much more – poems reflected in water; the sunlight and shadows; the sound of birdsong and the wind in the trees, all part of Ian’s text pieces. I loved the combination of historical reference –– including to the French Revolution –– the symbolic and the real, the domestic and the everyday.

War and conflict are everywhere, and so is Ian’s sense of humour.

Eileen Hogan, Goose Hut, 2012. Oil on paper, 115 x 100cm. Private Collection.

Eileen Hogan, Sketchbook, 2005.

Oil and pen on paper, 15 x 24cm.

Eileen Hogan, Sketchbook, 2009.

Oil and pen and ink on paper, 16

24 cm.

I am a compulsive sketcher and list maker. I find out what I think and what interests me through drawing. My sketchbooks from these years document my unearthing of the complexity and layers in Little Sparta and my getting to know Ian. On the first visit I missed as much as I saw and, over the years, the garden revealed itself to me slowly. It is a series of contained gardens within gardens, each with its own dynamic and drama, some with open vistas. Ian would appear where I was working and chat for a short time, then disappear.

Eileen Hogan, Sketchbook, 2005 6.

Oil on paper, 15 x 24cm.

Above: Eileen Hogan painting Ian Hamilton Finlay at Little Sparta, 2005. Photograph by Cathy Courtney.

Next page: Eileen Hogan, Ian Hamilton Finlay Walking Toward the Roman Garden, 2012. Oil on paper, mounted on board, 122 120 cm. Private Collection.

Eileen Hogan, Ian Hamilton Finlay Walking Toward the Roman Garden, 2009.

Charcoal and oil on paper, 126 90 cm. ale Center for British Art.

Eileen Hogan, Ian Hamilton Finlay, 2000. Oil and charcoal on paper, 9 70 cm. Private Collection.

My paintings of him reflect his transient presence, except for one remarkable occasion when Cathy and I arrived at the gate and found Ian waiting for us saying that he wanted to go out for a coffee. It astonished us. Ian had suffered very badly from agoraphobia and hadn’t left his land for many years. He had recently had a stroke and been taken to hospital and, for one reason or another, it had affected his agoraphobia and allowed him to travel.

Under Ian’s directions we drove for about 20 minutes to the Coffee Spot in Biggar – the drawings I did on that occasion led to a series of paintings of his head and shoulders.

Above: Eileen Hogan, Sketchbook, 2005. Oil and pen on paper, 15 24 cm.

Left: Ian Hamilton Finlay and Cathy Courtney, 2005. Photograph by Eileen Hogan.

Eileen Hogan, Ian Hamilton Finlay, 2005. Oil, wax, and charcoal on paper, mounted on board, 30 23 cm.

Eileen Hogan, Sketchbook, 2005 6. Oil on paper, 15 x 24cm.

Eileen Hogan, Bountiful, 23 , 2012. Oil on paper, 32 x 1 cm. Private Collection.

Walking and drawing are always the beginning for me. Then I choose a viewpoint to work from and once chosen, I always work from the same place. My first spot was looking at the trio of beehives in the ‘English Parkland’. This series of paintings was triggered by the flashes of sunshine creating flickering, dappled patterns on the geometric white bee hives. Little Sparta is landlocked but there are many links with the sea and

Scotland’s fishing fleets. The beehives are standard, but each one has painted on it the name of a fishing boat and its port registration. Sweet Promise FH 172 fished from Falmouth, Golden Gain FR 59 from Fraserburgh and Bountiful UL 23 from Ullapool. The names echo the labour of bees and the making of honey and relate to the harvest of the sea.

Eileen Hogan, Sweet Promise FH 172, 2010. Oil and charcoal on paper, 1 4 142 cm. Private collection.

Thinking about Little Sparta and my experience of working there to write this piece has rekindled my desire to paint the garden again. As soon as I can return to my studio I plan to paint, from a distance and from memory, a version of the beehives In the wild cherry orchard.

Eileen Hogan, UL 23 , FH 172, FR 59, 2011.

Oil, charcoal, and pastel on paper, 110 106 cm. Private collection.

Eileen Hogan, From SHADOW n. THE HOUR HAND, 2012.

Oil on paper, 35 73 cm. Private collection.

Exhibitions of Little Sparta work

NewArtCentre, Roche Court, 2013. This photograph was taken from the outside, looking in to the gallery with Roche Court’s gardens reflected. Hogan wanted to show the work within the context of another garden.

ale Center for British Art, 2019, Eileen Hogan retrospective.

A section of the show included work at Little Sparta.

ale Center for British Art, 2019, Eileen Hogan retrospective.

Little Sparta section.

NewArtCentre, Roche Court, 2013

PAINTINGS, A INGS AN P T G AP S 1. Cathy Courtney and Ian Hamilton Finlay, Little Sparta, 1997, Photograph by Eileen Hogan.

2. Eileen Hogan and Ian Hamilton Finlay, Little Sparta. 1997, Photograph by Cathy Courtney 3. Eileen Hogan, Goo e Hut, 2 12.

Pri ate Colle tion.

il on paper, 11

1

m.

. Eileen Hogan, S et hboo , 2 1 2 m.

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il and pen on paper,

. Eileen Hogan, S et hboo , 2 paper, 1 2 m.

9.

il and pen and in on

. Eileen Hogan painting Ian Hamilton Finlay at Little Sparta, 2 . Photograph by Cathy Courtney.

7. Eileen Hogan, S et hboo , 2

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il on paper, 1

2

m.

. Eileen Hogan, Ian Hamilton Finlay al ing o ard the oman Garden, 2 12. il on paper, mounted on board, 122 12 m. Pri ate Colle tion.

9. Eileen Hogan, Ian Hamilton Finlay al ing o ard the oman Garden, 2 9. Char oal and oil on paper, 12 9 m. ale Center or riti h rt 1 . Eileen Hogan, Ian Hamilton Finlay, 2 . paper, 9 7 m. Pri ate Colle tion.

11. Ian Hamilton Finlay and Cathy Courtney, 2

by Eileen Hogan.

12. Eileen Hogan, S et hboo , 2 1 2 m.

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il and har oal on . Photograph

il and pen on paper,

13. Eileen Hogan, Ian Hamilton Finlay, 2 . il, a , and har oal on paper, mounted on board, 3 23 m.

1 . Eileen Hogan, S et hboo , 2

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1 . Eileen Hogan, ounti ul, 23 , 2 12.

Pri ate Colle tion.

il on paper, 1

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il on paper, 32

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1 . Eileen Hogan, L 23 , FH 172, F 9, 2 11. il, har oal, and pa tel on paper, 11 1 m. Pri ate olle tion.

17. Eileen Hogan, S eet Promi e FH 172, 2 1 . on paper, 1 1 2 m. Pri ate olle tion.

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1 . Eileen Hogan, From SH n. HE H H il on paper, 3 73 m. Pri ate olle tion.

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e rtCentre, o he Court, 2 13. hi photograph a ta en rom the out ide, loo ing in to the gallery ith o he Court garden re e ted. Hogan anted to ho the or ithin the onte t o another garden.

2 . ale Center or riti h rt, 2 19, Eileen Hogan retro pe ti e. e tion o the ho in luded or at Little Sparta.

21. ale Center or riti h rt, 2 19, Eileen Hogan retro pe ti e.

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Pro e or Hogan a born in London and tudied at Camber ell S hool o rt 19 3 7 , the oyal ademy S hool 19 7 197 , the riti h S hool o r haeology at then 197 71 and the oyal College o rt 1971 73 . She i Pro e or in Fine rt in the C.C. . Camber ell, Chel ea and imbledon art hool Graduate S hool, ni er ity o the rt London and a tru tee o the oyal ra ing S hool.

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Copyright Little Sparta Trust May 2020 Words copyright Eileen Hogan, photos copyright Eileen Hogan and Cathy Courtney Scottish charity no SC023222

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