Sydney Long was born on 20 August 1871 at Goulburn, New South Wales, the posthumous son of an Irish Commission Agent. As a young man he moved to Sydney and worked for some years with a wine and spirit merchant. From about 1890 to 1894 he studied under A.J. Daplyn and Julian Ashton at the Art Society of New South Wales’s school.
Long participated in painting camps along the Nepean River near Richmond. In 1894 the Art Gallery of New South Wales purchased Long’s plein air image of boys bathing, By tranquil waters 1894. The flat surfaces and decorative art nouveau style of his works, such as Pan 1898 (Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney) and Spirit of the Plains 1897 (Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane), derive from the English Aesthetic movement, however he was passionate about Australian subject matter and his eucalypt, ti-trees and open plains are sometimes inhabited by distinctly Australian fauna such as magpies, as well as nymphs and fauns.
From 1907-10 Long taught at the Julian Ashton’s Sydney Art School. In October 1910 he moved to London. He visited France, Belgium and Holland. In c.1914 Long began to study printmaking and he rapidly became an accomplished printmaker, converting many of his images into etchings and aquatints. In 1921 he visited Australia and stayed for 18 months; then in 1925 he moved back to Sydney where he settled at Lane Cove. He remained one of Australia’s leading etchers until the collapse of the etching boom in the mid-1930s, when he turned again to painting. In 1952 he returned to London. Sydney Long died in London on 23 January 1955.
- Writers:
- Gray, Dr Anne
Note: Head of Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT
- Date written:
- 2006
- Last updated:
- 2011
