About Richard Long
Richard Long is a distinguished British artist renowned for his pioneering role in the Land Art movement that emerged in the late 1960s. Born in Bristol, England, in 1945, he studied at the West of England College of Art and later at Saint Martin’s School of Art in London, where he was influenced by minimalist and conceptual art. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Long turned to the natural environment as his primary canvas.
Richard Long’s artwork explores landscape and nature through actions rather than traditional painting or sculpture. His practice centers on walking as an artistic act and on the passage of time. He creates simple yet monumental geometric forms such as lines, circles, and spirals directly in the landscape, often using natural materials like stones, branches, and mud. These ephemeral interventions are documented through photographs, prints, maps, and text works, which serve as the lasting record of the work.
A key example of his approach is A Line Made by Walking (1967), created by repeatedly walking back and forth across a field to leave a visible line in the grass. This gesture redefined sculpture and drawing by merging physical action with contemplative engagement with nature.
