Lenardo da Vinci International Art Award

Pietro Annigoni; Self Portrait

In the autumn of 1970, from Da Nang, South Vietnam, Ben Long wrote me: ‘since learning about the opportunity to study in Florence, I have been unable to think of anything else’. Since this heartfelt letter from an American combatant in Vietnam - whom I had never met - had not fallen on deaf ears months earlier, I decided to offer him this opportunity.

As I am among those few who still believe in the need for natural talent as a basis for any art form, I was receptive to his plea: knowing nothing of him, leaving it to chance. And I must say that when Ben Long showed up at my studio, the following year, I had no regrets. This young American has an abundant gift for painting and, what matters more, this gift is compounded by his desire to learn. Long wants to conquer means of expression based on solid foundations to create a clear means of communication, without middlegounds and without compromise; I was able to inspect from up close the evolution of his “linguaggio” that would evolve slowly and validly even when it seemed to yield to generic conventionalism.

It is a rare thing, in this day and age, that a young man would subject himself to such discipline that, although essential, demands much sacrifice and many moments of consuming discomfort and solemnity. One must be far-sighted and rely on faith, based on a deep and well thought-out inner sense of urgency.

Long has been drawing and continues to do so tirelessly; from life and by copying the old masters, researching proportions, composition and form (not as simple as many think). “Proportions, composition and form” are words that for many today seem foreign but that retain a very precise and rigorous significance for those involved in this study, as is Long. He too realizes that in so doing he has learned to be intuitive about his own limitations: those that can be overcome and those that will remain. Over the past two years, he has dedicated himself to learning various other techniques: oil, tempera, fresco.

Of particular notice has been his fresco practice; with solid results in the execution of two frescoes, one in the Church of S. Michael the Archaengel in Ponte Buggianese, the other in the Church of S. Francis of Assisi in Montecatini. In both these works he has achieved an intense characterization of humanity and purity of narrative that immediately reaches out to the audience as touching and persuasive.

This is what I wrote in 1975 when Long received the international Leonardo da Vinci award from Florence's Rotary Club in collaboration with the Contact Club of Athens, Tours and Wien-Ring at the Palazzo Vecchio. Two years have gone by since then and I feel it necessary to add that Long has made further progress. Some of his recent paintings are admirable in the pure rendition of the subject matter, for maintaining the strenght of composition while infusing them with atmosphere. The learned execution of these works, so uncanny in this day and age, can be truly stunning at times.

 Still young, Long is a stark contrast to his contemporaries - seeming almost to result from reciprocal marginalization. However, he is no stranger to the pressing issues of our times that, truth be told, are fuel for much leisurely and pseudo-aesthetic banter. But who knows? Perhaps it is his atrocious experience in a desperate war, having painfully and personally experienced it, that drives him to grasp the concrete and consoling meanings of a “reality” that may seem as antiquated and familiar as that embraced by Vermeer van Delft. Ultimately, this reality can still be innately poetic and everlastingly fresh.