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Richard Long RA

Born: 2 June 1945, Bristol, England
Elected RA: 5 December 2001
Category of Membership: Sculptor

Richard Long RA, River Avon Mud Fingerprints on River Avon Driftwood
Richard Long RA, River Avon Mud Fingerprints on River Avon Driftwood
I consider my landscape sculptures inhabit the rich territory between two ideological positions, namely that of making 'monuments' or conversely, of 'leaving only footprints'. Richard Long RA

Richard Long studied at the West of England College of Art from 1962 to 1965 and at St. Martin’s School of Art, London from 1966 to 1967. Long wanted to make nature the subject of his work, but in new ways. His first walk-based work was a straight line in a field (1967). Subsequent walks took Long across Dartmoor and Exmoor and enabled him to explore the relationships between time, distance, geography and measurement. These walks were recorded in maps, photographs and text works. Throughout his career Long has explored sculpture as a medium concerned with place as well as material and form.

Over the years these sculptures have explored transience, permanence, visibility and recognition. A sculpture may be moved, dispersed or carried. Stones can be used as markers of time or distance, or exist as parts of a huge, yet anonymous, sculpture. On a mountain walk a sculpture could be made above the clouds, perhaps in a remote region, bringing an imaginative freedom about how, or where, art can be made in the world.’

Recent solo exhibitions
2013 Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Germany
2012 The Hepworth, Wakefield
2011 M-Shed, Bristol
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
Abbot Hall, Kendal
2009 Tate Britain, London, England
2002 Tate St. Ives, St. Ives, England
2001 Galerie Daniel Thompson, Paris, France
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, USA
2000 Griffin, Venice, Italy
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
1999 Kunstverein Hannover and Orangerie, Hanover, Germany
1998 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, England
1997 The Crawford Arts Centre, St. Andrews, Scotland
The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, England
City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, England
1996 Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, USA
1995 Onnur Haed Syningarsalur, Iceland
1994 Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf, Germany
The Public Library, New York, USA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
1993 65 Thompson Street, New York, USA
Musée de l’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
Inkong Gallery, Seoul
Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, USA
1992 Jean Bernier, Athens, Greece
Fundació Espai Poblenou, Barcelona, Spain
1991 Tate Gallery, Liverpool
Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut
Galleria Tucci Rosso
Hayward Gallery, London
1990 Arnolfini, Bristol
Anthony D’Offay Gallery, London
Angles Gallery, Los Angeles
Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland
Galerie Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf
Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall

Public collections
Art Gallery of Victoria, Adelaide, Australia
Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Belgium
Museum van Hedendaagse, Belgium
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada
Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
Centres Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Musée de l’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
Hamburger Bahnhof, Germany
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, England
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland
Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds, England
Arts Council of Great Britain, London, England
Tate Gallery, London, England
Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, England
Swindon Art Gallery, Swindon, England
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Japan
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands
Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Museu Serralves, Porto, Portugal
Malmö Kunsthall, Sweden
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
The Crex Collection, Zürich
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Dallas Museum of Arts, Dallas, USA
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA

Publications
Walking the Line, Richard Long, Thames and Hudson, 2002
Walking in Circles, Richard Long, Anthony d’Offay Gallery, 1991

Films
Stones and Files: Richard Long in the Sahara, a Methodact Production for the Arts Council of Great Britain, London. 38 minutes.

Contact details for further information
Email membershipoffice@royalacademy.org.uk

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