Richard Long

A Line Made by Walking

1967

© Richard Long

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Not on display

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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nature(46,224)
- landscape(26,644)
  - field(675)
- plants and flowers(2,713)
  - bush(204)
people(35,274)
- actions: postures and motions(9,053)
  - walking(600)
abstraction(9,655)
- non-representational(6,550)
  - geometric(3,024)
emotions, concepts and ideas(15,767)
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  - photographic(4,244)

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