The Entrance Court Commissions at Yale Center for British Art

The Bukhman Foundation is delighted to support the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) in bringing a series of new art installations to the museum’s Entrance Court each year. The initiative will bring two installations to the space each year, creating new opportunities for audiences to encounter and interpret contemporary art in dialogue with the museum’s historic collections.

The series launches with Gravity, a monumental site-specific installation by internationally renowned sculptor, painter, and land artist Richard Long. On view from 4 November 2026 to 11 July 2027, the installation also forms part of the programming marking the YCBA’s 50th anniversary in 2027.

For Gravity, Long uses his hands to sweep clay to a free-standing wall, creating a large gestural drawing. The work establishes a striking dialogue with the flat, steel surfaces of the YCBA’s iconic building, designed by architect Louis I. Kahn, while reflecting Long’s longstanding engagement with landscape and natural materials.

“This commission reflects our commitment to bringing artists into meaningful dialogue with our architecture, collections, and communities. We are deeply grateful to the Bukhman Foundation for sharing our vision and supporting our Entrance Court program into the future. The grant will ensure that the Entrance Court and the museum more broadly exists as a dynamic site for contemporary artistic expression,” said Martina Droth, Paul Mellon Director, Yale Center for British Art.

In addition to supporting the installation series, the Bukhman Foundation’s multi-year grant will also fund interpretative materials, student internships in the curatorial and education departments, and free youth, public, and community programmes.

About the artist

In the vanguard of conceptual art in Britain since creating A Line Made By Walking over a half century ago in 1967, Richard Long creates installation and time-based works incorporating movement and natural materials. Over nearly six decades, he has challenged and expanded the definition of sculpture by treating walking, movement, and natural materials as artistic media. Through his walks and temporary works of passage: sculptures and installations made from slate, driftwood, footprints, or stone, time, space, and distance become subjects of the art itself.

By the 1980s, Long began making his mud works, which have become among the most celebrated aspects of his practice. Working entirely without brushes or conventional tools, Long uses his bare hands and gestural movements to apply the wet mud directly onto walls or floors.

Long’s work has been spotlighted in major solo exhibitions around the world, including Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2023); Chateau La Coste, Provence, France (2021); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany (2010); Tate Britain, London, UK (2009); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA (2006); National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan (1996); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA (1994); and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA (1986). He represented Britain at the 37th Venice Biennale (1976) and won the Turner Prize (1989).

Long has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work, among them the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture (1990) and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale for sculpture (2009). In addition, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2013) and was knighted in the 2018 Honors List.

Born in Bristol in 1945, Long works between London and Bristol. He studied at the West of England College of Art, Bristol, and at St Martin’s School of Art, London.

About the Yale Center for British Art

The Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) is the only museum in the US exclusively dedicated to advancing scholarship and public engagement with British art and material culture, with the most significant collection outside the United Kingdom. Housed in an iconic modernist building—the last completed by acclaimed American architect Louis I. Khan—the YCBA’s collection, exhibitions, programs, and publications reveal the sweep and diversity of British art and artists from the 15th century to the present day, as well as the work of a broad range of global practitioners whose cultures and home countries have been influenced and affected by Britain, British culture, and English imperialism. A vital hub for research and education, the YCBA’s extensive Reference Library, Study Room, and community center provide academic resources and a wide array of programs to engage New Haven and the wider region.

Founded through the generosity of Yale graduate and lauded philanthropist Paul Mellon, the YCBA is guided by a dedication to art, scholarship, and public service. As part of its mission to welcome anyone and everyone to experience its collection, its resources, and its spaces, the YCBA is always free to the public.