Lois Long

The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is textile design, illustration and mycology. Work by Lois Long is recorded in the collections of Netherlands Photo Museum, National Museum of World Cultures, Wereldmuseum Rotterdam, Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art.

• Name — Lois Long • Born — 1918 • Died — 2005 • Occupation — Amateur mycologist, illustrator

Long's passion for mushrooms and the science of mycology began when she moved to Rockland County, New York in the 1950s, and a friend introduced her to John Cage, the noted composer poet, artist and avid amateur mycologist. Together they began by exploring the fungi at the New York Botanical Gardens, and meeting with another amateur mycologist Guy Nearing. Eventually, Cage and Nearing helped establish the New York Mycological Society with Long as one of the original 26 founding members.

Long's works of art have been sold at auction; her first auctioned piece was sold by Christie's New York in 2009. Her work has also been featured in publications including The Guardian and ArtDaily (February 2020) describing an exhibition at Somerset House in London, exploring "the fascinating world of mushrooms." The two books that are most-often cited as examples of her work are two limited edition books (Mushroom Book and Mud Book), authored by Cage and co-authored by Long and featuring her illustrations. Today, the books can be found in major museums, libraries and private collections, including the British Museum in London and MOMA in New York. One exhibitor's review of the Mud Book describes it favorably, saying, "The edition is an outstanding example of silkscreen printing. Its extraordinary quality was accomplished by employing up to sixty-nine (69) screens for a single page, achieving a startling luminosity of color and distinctness of line and form." To explore mushrooms around the world, Long was known to have taken trips abroad to Mexico, China, Japan, Madagascar and India. Her artistic illustrations were praised for featuring of the kind of earth in which the fungi were found. Her obituary mentions, "Precise in color and detail, they are accurate enough to be used for research and yet the drawings are also an aesthetic success, expressed in simplicity of line and composition and uniquely rendered in watercolor and graphite." At her last in-person exhibition at the Cavin-Morris Gallery in 2003, Long exhibited "life-sized mushroom drawings in watercolor and graphite and sculpture in paper mache."