A Line Made by Walking

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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]

Contents

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]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Macfarlane, Robert (22 May 2009). "Walk the Line". The Guardian.
  2. ↑ Cole, Ina, ed. (2021). “From the Sculptor’s Studio”, conversation with Richard Long, held in 2015, 2017 and 2020. Laurence King Publishing Ltd. p. 146-159. ISBN   9781913947590. OCLC   1420954826.
  3. ↑ Badger, Gerry (2010). The Pleasures of Good Photographs: Essays. ISBN   9781597111393.
  4. ↑ "BBC Arts - BBC Arts - I walk the line: How Richard Long turns epic journeys into art". 10 May 2018.
  5. 1 2 Art in America, Volume 75 (1987), page 163.
  6. 1 2 Roelstraete, Dieter (2010). Richard Long: A Line Made by Walking. ISBN   9781846380600.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "'A Line Made by Walking', Richard Long, 1967".
  8. 1 2 Faber, Dr Hege Charlotte; Strandhagen, Brit; Bøe, Dr Solveig (2014-10-31). Raw: Architectural Engagements with Nature. ISBN   9781472421005.
  9. ↑ Manning, Robert; Manning, Martha (May 2017). Walks of a Lifetime: Extraordinary Hikes from Around the World. ISBN   9781493026425.
  10. ↑ Higgins, Charlotte (2012-06-15). "Richard Long: 'It was the swinging 60s. To be walking lines in fields was a bit different'". The Guardian.
  11. ↑ Solnit, Rebecca (June 2001). Wanderlust: A History of Walking. ISBN   9781101199558.
  12. ↑ Ross, Christine (2012-06-28). The Past is the Present; It's the Future Too: The Temporal Turn in Contemporary Art. ISBN   9781441147745.
  13. ↑ "New Statesman". 2009.
  14. ↑ Dapena-Tretter, Antonia (2014). "Richard Long's Passage as Line: Measuring Toward the Horizon". Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies. 15 (1): 103–116. doi: 10.17077/2168-569X.1443 .
  15. ↑ Malpas, William (2007). The Art of Richard Long: Complete Works. ISBN   9781861711878.
  16. ↑ Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Photography, Lynne Warren: Photography. 2006-05-16. ISBN   9781579583934.
  17. ↑ Ruhrberg, Karl; Honnef, Klaus; Fricke, Christiane; Schneckenburger, Manfred (2000). Art of the 20th Century. ISBN   9783822859070.
  18. ↑ Brettell, Richard R.; Friis-Hansen, Dana (1996). Richard Long: Circles, cycles, mud, stones. Contemporary Arts Museum. ISBN   9780936080383.
  19. ↑ "Richard Long | Artists | Collection | British Council − Visual Arts".
  20. ↑ Haldane, John (October 2007). "Richard Long. Edinburgh". The Burlington Magazine. 149 (1255): 723–724. JSTOR   20075034.
  21. ↑ Haas, Phillip. "Stones and Flies. Richard Long in the Sarah". Alexander Street. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  22. ↑ "Artist Richard Long's groundbreaking A line made by walking". Public Delivery. 2019-08-20. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 "Sculptures". Richard Long. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  24. ↑ "A&A | A Line Made By Walking". www.artandarchitecture.org.uk.
  25. ↑ "A Line Made by Walking (Getty Museum)".
  26. ↑ "A Line Made by Walking". National Galleries of Scotland.
  27. ↑ "Richard Long". Guggenheim Museum . Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  28. ↑ Cross, Stephanie (March 12, 2017). "A Line Made By Walking by Sara Baume – review". The Guardian .
  29. ↑ Gujarathi, Chika (April 18, 2017). "Sara Baume: Portrait of an artist in retreat". BookPage.
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