''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 Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, and then photographed the result. The work is considered to be an important early work in the history of both

land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mo ...

and conceptual art. It has been described as among Long's signature works, and as his "best-known early piece".''Art in America'', Volume 75 (1987), page 163.

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 Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's beca ...

, London. At the time, Long commuted regularly between his home in Bristol and the school, a journey of around 120 miles. Stopping in Wiltshire, 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. The work was considered innovative at the time as it proposed that the simple act of walking could be an art form, and that art could be produced by the foot as well as the hand. The piece also questioned whether the performance – or the document of the performance – was the actual artwork. As such it presented a challenge to what was traditionally understood to be as sculpture. The work, which set the tone for Long's career as an artist, was one of his earliest pieces and his first walking-based piece. 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. ''A Line Made by Walking'' established Long as a minimalist and conceptual sculptor; it was also an early example of

. Long created several pieces which hark back to the 1967 original including circles or organic paths, some in snow, dust, or even charred grass. These include ''Walking a Line in Peru'' (1972), a narrow path walked across a wide plain, leading to the foothills of distant mountains; ''A Line and Tracks in Bolivia'' (1981), approximately 150 feet long with accompanying tracks intersecting; ''Sea Level Waterline'' in

Death Valley, California Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevat ...

(1982), a path walked at the zero foot contour, representing sea level in low-lying Death Valley; and ''A Line in Nepal'' (1983), a forest path approximately 50 feet long.

Collections

The work is held in the collections of the

Tate Museum Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, London, the Courtald Gallery, the

Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...

and the

National Galleries of Scotland The National Galleries of Scotland (, sometimes also known as National Galleries Scotland) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the Nation ...

. It has also been on display in the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

in New York, as part of a major exhibition of Long's work held by that museum in the 1970s and 1980s. The 2017 novel, ''A Line Made by Walking'', by

Sara Baume Sara Baume (born 1984) is an Irish novelist. She was named on ''Grantas Best of Young British Novelists list in 2023. Biography Her father is of English descent while her mother is of Irish descent. As her parents travelled around in a cara ...

, is named for the artwork.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Line Made by Walking 1967 sculptures Land art Walking art 1967 in England 1967 photographs Culture in Wiltshire