Richard Long

A Line Made by Walking

1967

In Tate Liverpool

Constellations: Bob and Roberta Smith

Free entry

Artist: Richard Long born 1945
Medium: Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper and graphite on board
Dimensions: Image: 375 x 324 mm
framed: 623 x 826 x 26 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1976
Reference: P07149

Display caption

This formative piece was made on one of Long’s journeys to St Martin’s from his home in Bristol. Between hitchhiking lifts, he stopped in a field in Wiltshire where he walked backwards and forwards until the flattened turf caught the sunlight and became visible as a line. He photographed this work, and recorded his physical interventions within the landscape.
Although this artwork underplays the artist’s corporeal presence, it anticipates a widespread interest in performative art practice. This piece demonstrates how Long had already found a visual language for his lifelong concerns with impermanence, motion and relativity.

Gallery label, May 2007

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