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Richard Long, Pine Needles, 1971, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 9 November – 21 November 1971, Courtesy Whitechapel Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery Archive
Richard Long, Two Sahara Stones, 1988, © Richard Long, Courtesy the artist
Richard Long Untitled, 2012, China clay fingerprints on wood, Photo: Steve Jackson
Former Whitechapel Gallery Director Iwona Blazwick and curator Ann Gallagher discuss Art Icon Richard Long's work over 40 years.
Generously supported by the Swarovski Foundation, the Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon 2015 was presented to British artist Richard Long by Edmund de Waal at a special gala dinner hosted by Whitechapel Gallery Director Iwona Blazwick OBE on 19 March 2015.
Guests bought tickets for the evening to help raise funds for the Whitechapel Gallery’s education and community programmes.
An auction led by Oliver Barker of Sotheby’s and introduced by Alex Sainsbury featured work donated by leading artists in homage to Richard Long, including Matthew Darbyshire’s glittering gold leaf bollard, Long’s friend and contemporary Hamish Fulton’s work reminiscing on a 1960s performance by the artist, and Michael Rakowitz’s reinterpretation of Long’s iconic A Line Made by Walking with A Line Made from Looting. Artists included: Francis Alÿs, Broomberg & Chanarin, Matthew Darbyshire, Michael Dean, Hamish Fulton, Georg Herold, Jannis Kounellis, Heather Phillipson, Paola Pivi, Michael Rakowitz, Wilhelm Sasnal, Adrián Villar Rojas and Jesse Wine.
British artist Richard Long has been in the vanguard of conceptual art in Britain since he created A Line Made by Walking in 1967, while still a student. In a career spanning six decades, Richard Long has made sculptures, photographs and text works documenting his journeys around the world, from long walks across Dartmoor in south Devon, England to the icy peaks of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. Richard Long’s critically acclaimed first major UK solo exhibition took place at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1971. In recent years he has had major solo exhibitions at Tate Britain (2009), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2006), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1986) and represented Britain at the 37th Venice Biennale (1976) as well as winning the Turner Prize (1989).
The Swarovski Foundation was incorporated in 2013, with the mission of building on the company’s heritage of philanthropic and charitable giving. The Foundation supports charitable initiatives and organizations working across three areas, including fostering Creativity and Culture by promoting the arts, advancing education, supporting cultural institutions and innovative projects with cutting edge talent and assisting the advancement and development of young people and communities. The Youth Programme Curator post at the Gallery is also generously supported by the Swarovski Foundation.
