A Line Made by Walking
Artwork by Richard Long
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A Line Made by Walking is a 1967 sculpture by British artist Richard Long. The piece was made when Long walked a continuous line into a field of grass in Wiltshire, England, and then photographed the result.[1][2] The work is considered to be an important early work in the history of both land art and conceptual art.[3][4] It has been described as among Long's signature works, and as his "best-known early piece".[1][5]
History
A Line Made by Walking was made in 1967 when Long was a 22-year-old art student at Saint Martin's School of Art, London.[6][7] At the time, Long commuted regularly between his home in Bristol and the school, a journey of around 120 miles.[7] Stopping in Wiltshire,[7][8] he found a grassy area and walked a straight path in it repeatedly until a line was visible. He then took a black and white photograph of the result.[1][6][9]
The work was considered innovative at the time as it proposed that the simple act of walking could be an art form,[10] and that art could be produced by the foot as well as the hand.[1] The piece also questioned whether the performance – or the document of the performance – was the actual artwork.[8][11][12] As such it presented a challenge to what was traditionally understood to be as sculpture.[13] The work, which set the tone for Long's career as an artist,[14] was one of his earliest pieces[15][16] and his first walking-based piece.[17][18][19] In the context of Long's career, A Line Made by Walking manifested the artist's fascination with trails and traces as mapped histories, a very prevalent theme in his work.[20][21]
A Line Made by Walking established Long as a minimalist and conceptual sculptor; it was also an early example of land art.[22] Long created several pieces which hark back to the 1967 original including circles or organic paths, some in snow, dust, or even charred grass.[23] These include Walking a Line in Peru (1972), a narrow path walked across a wide plain, leading to the foothills of distant mountains;[23] A Line and Tracks in Bolivia (1981), approximately 150 feet long with accompanying tracks intersecting;[23] Sea Level Waterline in Death Valley, California (1982), a path walked at the zero foot contour, representing sea level in low-lying Death Valley;[23] and A Line in Nepal (1983), a forest path approximately 50 feet long.[23]
Collections
The work is held in the collections of the Tate Museum, London,[7] the Courtald Gallery,[24] the Getty Museum[25] and the National Galleries of Scotland.[26] It has also been on display in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York,[5] as part of a major exhibition of Long's work held by that museum in the 1970s and 1980s.[27]
The 2017 novel, A Line Made by Walking, by Sara Baume, is named for the artwork.[28][29]