There are so many lovely details in this composition, not the least of which is the drape in the foreground, a remnant from a long-ago chapter in Robert Long’s professional life. In the late 1940s, the Longs moved to Warren, Pennsylvania. Together with his friend Quinn Smith, a classmate from the Art Institute of Chicago, Long formed Yankeebush Workshop, designing and producing silkscreened textiles. The business was housed in a large warehouse. It held a long, long table—some 50 feet, if memory serves—where bolts of unbleached muslin were laid out. The silkscreen frame was laid on top, and paint was squeegeed through the cut silk to print the pattern on the fabric. Then the frame was carefully lifted and moved down the table to the next section. This design, called “Hare and Finch,” was one of the most popular.
