Richard Long
East West Circle

East West Circle

© 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London

East West Circle
East West Circle
ArtistBritish, born 1945
CultureBritish
Titles
  • East West Circle
Date1996
PlaceEngland
MediumBlack river stones
Dimensions196 in. diameter (497.8 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Max and Isabell Smith Herzstein, Jeanne and Michael Klein, and members of the Twentieth-Century Subcommittee
Object number97.168.1
Not on view

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Object Type
Description

Richard Long bases his practice on long, solitary walks through the landscape, a process he began in 1967 in Britain and, from 1969 on, continued abroad. Along these walks Long often collects natural materials such as stone, mud, or wood, which he uses to produce installations inside the gallery space. He documents the walks with photographs and texts.


Comprised of black river stones, East West Circle reconfigures a particular riverbed Long visited in Japan. The elegant geometric arrangement affords a sense of his activity in the wilderness, bringing nature into the gallery experience. At the same time, Long creates a tension between the circular form of the arrangement and the irregular forms of the stones.


 


ProvenanceThe artist; [Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London and 242 Inc., New York]; purchased by MFAH, 1997.
Exhibition History"New to Houston, Recent Additions to Houston Collections," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 21–August 30, 1998.

"Modern and Contemporary Art: Spotlight on the Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 7–August 27, 2000.

"Modern Art from the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, December 12, 2007–April 6, 2008.

"Richard Long: Measured Spaces," Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, Spring, Texas, January 8–April 24, 2011.

"Second Nature: Contemporary Landscapes from the MFAH Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 10–September 25, 2011.

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