Richard Long

Richard Long has been in the vanguard of conceptual art in Britain since he created A Line Made by Walking over half a century ago in 1967, while still a student. This photograph of the path left by his feet in the grass, a fixed line of movement, established a precedent that art could be a journey. Through this medium of walking, time, space and distance became new subjects for his art. From that time he expanded his walks to wilderness regions all over the world, including a walk in the Alps that was documented by his first text work for the seminal exhibition of Minimal and Conceptual works entitled When Attitude Becomes Form at the Kunsthalle Bern in 1969. After 1969, Long began making journeys and sculptures in wilderness places all around the world. In the 1980s, Long began making new types of mud works using handprints applied directly to the wall. He also continued to make large sculptures of lines and circles from slate, driftwood, footprints or stone, often sourced from quarries near the exhibition sites. Long mediates on his experience of these places, from mountains through to deserts, shorelines, grasslands, rivers and snowscapes, according to archetypal geometric marks and shapes, made by his footsteps alone or gathered from the materials of the place. These walks and temporary works of passage are recorded with photographs, maps and text works, where measurements of time and distance, place names and phenomena are vocabulary for both original ideas and powerful, condensed narratives.

Richard Long was born in Bristol, UK in 1945 and he lives and works between London and Bristol. He studied at the West of England College of Art, Bristol (1962–65), then St Martin’s School of Art, London (1966–68). Major solo exhibitions include Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2023); M Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (2021); Chateau La Coste, Provence, France (2021); De Pont Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands (2019); Fondation CAB, Brussels, Belgium (2018); Houghton Hall, Norfolk, UK (2017); Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (2015); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany (2010); Tate Britain, London, UK (2009); Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, UK (2007); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA, USA (2006); National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan (1996); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA (1994); and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA (1986). He represented Britain at the 37th Venice Biennale (1976) and won the Turner Prize in 1989. He received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture (1990), has been elected to the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2001), awarded Japan’s Praemium Imperiale in the field of sculpture (2009), made a CBE in 2013 and was knighted in the 2018 Honours List.

Recent, current and forthcoming projects

'Richard Long at the Rijksmuseum Gardens' at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (26 May - 29 Oct 2023)

Richard Long
Puebla Circle

2020
Red and white slate from Puebla, Estado de México D: 9m, H: 0.1m, Approx. 500 slates

Richard Long
Puebla Circle

2020
Red and white slate from Puebla, Estado de México D: 9m, H: 0.1m, Approx. 500 slates

Richard Long
Puebla Circle

2020
Red and white slate from Puebla, Estado de México D: 9m, H: 0.1m, Approx. 500 slates

Richard Long
Puebla Circle

2020
Red and white slate from Puebla, Estado de México D: 9m, H: 0.1m, Approx. 500 slates

Richard Long
Untitled

2016
River Avon mud, linen on plywood Diptych Each panel: 200 x 260 x 4 cm / 78 1/2 x 102 1/2 x 1 2/3 in.

Richard Long
Circle for Sally

2016
Granite and marble stones Diameter: 520 cm / 204 6/8 in.

Richard Long
Time and Space

2015
Installation view Arnolfini, Bristol, UK

Richard Long
Untitled

2015
Terracotta on board 80.5 x 100 x 4 cm / 31 1/2 x 39 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Untitled

2014
River Avon mud, linen on plywood Diptych Each panel: 200 x 260 x 4 cm (each)/ 78 1/2 x 102 1/2 x 2/3 in.

Richard Long
Beyond God Romansch Walk

2013
Text In situ dimensions variable Framed: 158.5 x 104.5 x 4 cm / 62 x 41 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
A Camp on the Driscoll Glacier

2012
Photographic print 140.4 x 94.5 x 4 cm / 55 x 37 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Antarctic Footprints

2012
Photographic print 94.5 x 140.5 x 4 cm / 37 x 55 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Cornwall Spiral

2012
Cornish China clay on wood panel 111 x 107 x 1 cm / 44 x 42 x 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Life Death

2011
Text work 105 x 168 x 4 cm / 41 x 66 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
A Bend in the River, China

2010
Photograph and handwritten text Framed dimensions: 112.5 x 84.5 x 4 cm / 44 x 33 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Autumn Snowline, Switzerland

2010
Photograph and handwritten text Framed dimensions: 112.5 x 84.5 x 4 cm / 44 x 33 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Gravity Entropy

2010
Text work 169 x 105 x 4cm / 6 1/2 x 41 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Granite, From Stone to Stone, Portugal and Spain

2005
Photograph 87 x 127 cm / 34 x 50 in.

Richard Long
Continuum Walk

1998
Text work 106 x 157 x 4 cm / 41 x 62 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Muddy Water Circle

1994

Clay on black wall
Dimensions variable

Richard Long
Merrivale Circle

1994
57 granite stones Diameter: 390 cm / 153 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Untitled

1995
River Avon mud on paper 39.7 x 29.5 cm / 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 in.

Richard Long
A Circle in Scotland

1986
Photograph and text Framed dimensions: 87 x 129 x 4 cm / 34 x 51 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
White Onyx Line

1990
White Onyx 940 x 150 cm / 370 x 59 in.

Richard Long
White Onyx Line

1990
White Onyx 940 x 150 cm / 370 x 59 in.

Richard Long
White Onyx Line

1990
White Onyx 940 x 150 cm / 370 x 59 in.

Richard Long
Walking Out of Stones, Texas

1990
Text work Framed dimensions: 109 x 160 x 4 cm / 43 x 63 x 1 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Red Slate Line

1986
Jagged red slate stones 168 x 1800 cm / 66 x 708 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Grey Slate Spiral

1981
112 pieces of Delabole slate Diameter: 480 cms / 189 in.

Richard Long
Slate Line

1978
20 pieces of Cornish Delabole slate 270 x 70 cm / 106 x 27 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Walking a Line in Peru

1972
Photograph and text on board 64 x 87.7 cm / 25 x 34 1/2 in.

Richard Long
Three Circles of Stones

1972

Stones

Richard Long
Three Circles of Stones

1972

Stones

Richard Long
A Line Made by Walking

1967
Photograph