Sir Richard Julian Long, (born 2 June 1945) is an English

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and one of the best-known British

land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mo ...

ists. Long is the only artist to have been short-listed four times for the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

. He was nominated in 1984, 1987 and 1988, and then won the award in 1989 for ''White Water Line''. He lives and works in Bristol, the city in which he was born. Long studied at

Saint Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's beca ...

before going on to create work using various media including sculpture, photography and text. His work is on permanent display in Britain at the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

and

Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture and Creative Industries it is run by the Bristol City Council with no ...

as well as galleries in America, Switzerland and Australia. Long's work has broadened the idea of sculpture to be a part of performance art and conceptual art. His work typically is made of earth, rock, mud, stone and other nature based materials. In exhibitions his work is typically displayed with the materials or through documentary photographs of his performances and experiences.

Early life and education

Long was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, in south-west England. Between 1962 and 1965 he studied at the

West of England College of Art The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...

, and then, from 1966 to 1968, at

in London, where he studied under

Anthony Caro Sir Anthony Alfred Caro (8 March 192423 October 2013) was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using ' found' and industrial objects. He began as a member of the modernist school, having worked with ...

and Phillip King and became closely associated with fellow student Hamish Fulton.

Work

Several of his works were based around

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an "inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults over ...

s that he has made, and as well as land based natural sculpture, he uses the mediums of photography, text and maps of the landscape he has walked over. Long has been taking these walks since the mid 1960s where he has walked in places such as the Sahara Desert, Australia, Iceland and near his home in Bristol, United Kingdom. His work has proven to be revolutionary as it has changed how society views sculpture. His work has influenced the boundaries of sculpture to not be limited to only "traditional" materials and to be able to use alternative materials in his work. Not only is he using alternative materials such as rock and earth, but he also changed what art is, as the actual art piece can be the process of creating the art itself. In his work, often cited as a response to the environments he walked in, the landscape would be deliberately changed in some way, as in '' A Line Made by Walking'' (1967), and sometimes sculptures were made in the landscape from

rocks In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...

or similar found materials and then photographed. Other pieces consist of photographs or maps of unaltered landscapes accompanied by texts detailing the location and time of the walk it indicates. His piece ''Delabole Slate Circle'', acquired from the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

in 1997, is a central piece in

. The piece is nearly 2 metres in diameter and is composed of 168 pieces of slate that came from the Delabole quarry in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The piece can be configured differently, however Long has specified a few rules on how it should be put together. All pieces of stone must touch so that they can be locked together and stable, as well as the pieces must form a circle. The connection of the slates and the geometric shape illustrates a common theme that Long portrays in his work about the relationship between man and nature. Long explains, "you could say that my work is ... a balance between the patterns of nature and formalism of human, abstract ideas of lines and circles. It is where my human characteristics meet the natural forces and patterns of the world, and that is really the kind of subject of my work." At

Houghton Hall Houghton Hall ( ) is a country house in the parish of Houghton in Norfolk, England. It is the residence of the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. It was commissioned by the '' de facto'' first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, in 1722, ...

in Norfolk, the

Marquess of Cholmondeley Marquess of Cholmondeley ( ) is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for George Cholmondeley, 4th Earl of Cholmondeley. History The Cholmondeley family descends from William le Belward (or de Belward), the ...

commissioned a

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

to the east of the house. Long's

there consists of a circle of Cornish slate at the end of a path mown through the grass. The New Art Centre in Salisbury is home to Long's ''Tame Buzzard Line'' (2001), a line of flint stones made to mimic the journey of a buzzard between an oak and an ash tree in the centre's grounds. Permanent installations include ''Riverlines'' (2006) at the Hearst Tower in New York, US (at about 35 x 50 feet (11 x 15 metres) this was at the time the biggest wall work he had ever made); ''Planet Circle'' (1991) at the

Museum de Pont The De Pont Museum is a contemporary art museum in Tilburg, North Brabant, the Netherlands. It was named after the lawyer and businessman Jan de Pont (1915-1987). After his death his estate provided for the establishment of a foundation (the Janivo ...

, Tilburg, Netherlands; and ''White Water Falls'' (2012) in the

Garvan Institute The Garvan Institute of Medical Research is an Australian biomedical research research institute, institute located in , Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1963 by the Sisters of Charity of Australia, Sisters of Charity as a research departmen ...

in Sydney, Australia. In 2009, a retrospective of Long's work entitled "Heaven and Earth," appeared at the Tate Britain. In 2015, a major solo exhibition Richard Long: Time and Space, at the Arnolfini, celebrated his work in his hometown of Bristol.

Walked-line pieces

Long has created several pieces which hearken back to the original 1967 piece '' A Line Made by Walking''. Some are circles or organic paths. Some exist in snow, dust, and even charred grass.

Books

*''Nile (Papers of River Muds).'' Los Angeles: Lapis Press, 1990. *''South America''. Brest: Zédélé éditions, 2012. (Düsseldorf: Konrad Fischer, 1972 st ed.. *Clarrie Wallis' 2009 book, ''Richard Long: Heaven and Earth'' was published as a companion to an exhibit of his photographs at the Tate Gallery, London.

Selected honours and awards

* 1976 Represented Britain in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy * 1989 Turner Prize, Tate Gallery, London, UK * 1990 Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, French Ministry of Culture, Paris, France * 2001 Elected to the Royal Academy of Arts * 2009 Awarded the

Praemium Imperiale Prince Takamatsu The Praemium Imperiale () is an international art prize inaugurated in 1988 and awarded since 1989 by the Imperial family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, mu ...

for sculpture from Japan * 2015 Named

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fi ...

Art Icon * 2023

Wolf Prize in Arts The Wolf Prize in Arts is awarded annually by the not-for-profit Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation, and has been awarded since 1981; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medi ...

Long was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

and a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

for services to art.

Art market

Long's ''Whitechapel Slate Circle'' (1981) brought a record price for the artist in 1989 when it sold for $209,000 at

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

in New York. At another auction in 1992, the piece was estimated far more modestly at $120,000 to $160,000, but bidding never exceeded $110,000;Carol Vogel (18 November 1992)
A Night to Buy Low at Sotheby's
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. instead, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, Washington, D.C. purchased it in 1994 through dealer

Anthony d'Offay Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descen ...

Notes

References

* Cole, Ina, ''From the Sculptor’s Studio'' (London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2021, conversation with Richard Long, held in 2015, 2017 and 2020, page 146-159) . * Roelstraete, Dieter. ''Richard Long: A Line Made by Walking''. London: Afterall Books, 2010. * Gayford, Martin
"In the studio: Richard Long,"
''Daily Telegraph'' (London). 4 April 2006. * Gooding, Mel and William Furlong. (2002). ''Artists, Land, Nature.'' New York: Abrams. * Long Richard, ''Mirage'', edition Phaidon, 1998, * Tafalla, Marta.
From Allen Carlson to Richard Long: The Art-Based Appreciation of Nature
, in: Alessandro Bertinetto, Fabian Dorsch, Cain Todd (eds.). ''Proceedings of the European Society for Aesthetics'', vol. 2, pp 491–515, 2010. * Miller, Juliet. ''On the Track of Richard Long''. Norwich
"Smokehouse Press"
2014.

External links

Long, official websiteHoughton Hall
photo of land art installation
Sperone Westwater GalleryArt UK, ''Tame Buzzard Line''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Richard 1945 births 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters Photographers from Bristol English sculptors English male sculptors Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor English contemporary artists British conceptual artists Land artists Artists from Bristol Turner Prize winners Royal Academicians English installation artists Alumni of the University of the West of England, Bristol Living people Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art 20th-century British sculptors Walking artists