Imaginative sculptor and teacher, born in Brockton, Massachusetts, America, whose elegant abstract works in metal, sometimes coloured and occasionally in the form of a mobile, reflected their maker’s ironic humour. Although he had no formal art training and had a fairly short career, Long established an international reputation. Initially brought up in an orphanage, aged 11 he joined his Lithuanian grandparents. Despite his duties in their bakery, Long developed a passion for literature, language and culture and learned German. Prevented from joining the Air Force Academy and flying because of short sight, he entered the Army, serving in Germany as a language instructor. Studied philosophy at Boston University, 1963–6, between 1967–9 completing his doctorate in German literature at New York University.
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After extensive travels through Yugoslavia, Turkey and Afghanistan to India, he settled in Paris in 1972, studied philosophy and literature at the University of Paris, 1973–4, began to sculpt and learned from sculptors such as the Cuban Augustin Cárdenas and Swiss Jean Tinguely. Friendship with the philosopher Jean-François Leotard led to Long’s translating his works. Long’s sculptures gained quick critical acceptance, solo shows at the Galerie Farideh Cadot and Centre Georges Pompidou being followed by regular exhibitions in France and abroad. Long gained a number of awards and residencies and in 1983 and 1986 was visiting professor at L’École Supérieure d’Art Visuel, in Geneva, Switzerland. He carried out extensive major public, private and corporate commissions across Europe. During a return to New York in 1996 Long fell in love with Mary Vogel, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Michigan, and when she was in England, 1998–9, Long joined her. In 2000, he was elected an international associate of the RBS. Died in Paris.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
