Skip to main content

Robert Longo Art

American, b. 1953

The drawings by artist Robert Longo are a sensory experience: They are monumental, detailed and hard-hitting in their subject matter, which often includes critiques of power, social unrest and consumer capitalism.

Longo has spent his career exploring mediums as varied as the Photorealistic charcoal drawings for which he is best known and film direction. In all of his work, however, he draws inspiration from his deep background in sculpture. “I always think that drawing is a sculptural process. I always feel like I’m carving the image out rather than painting the image. I’m carving it out with erasers and tools like that,” he once said.

The Long Island, New York, native attended high school with a man who was shot at Kent State University while protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War in 1970, and the famous image of this man lying dead on the ground influenced Longo so deeply that he began to consider all art political. Longo attended Buffalo State College, where he met and became friends with artist Cindy Sherman, and later the two moved to New York City together.

Longo’s revered work includes his charcoal and graphite “Men in the Cities” drawings. The Photorealist series, which debuted at Metro Pictures gallery in Manhattan in 1981, depicted people in formal business clothing. Posing in suspended animation in unusual contortions, the figures take on a choreographic quality and represent the career-minded “yuppies” of the era.

“Men in the Cities” was inspired by punk rock music and decades later has been cited as a visual reference for the opening sequence of the popular television drama Mad Men. The work was among the most recognizable and iconic of the Pictures Generation — the movement by artists who came of age in the 1970s and were disillusioned by the social and political conditions of the time. In 2014, Longo created 12 charcoal drawings for a series titled “Gang of Cosmos,” which were black-and-white depictions of famous Abstract Expressionist works by artists like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Lee Krasner.

Through his provocative, detailed and highly precise prints, drawings, photography and sculpture, Longo continues to challenge traditional sources of power and authority.

Find original Robert Longo art on 1stDibs.

to
7
7
2
1
4
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
2
1
7
4
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
1
61
35
16
15
15
5
1
1
1
Artist: Robert Longo
Dealer: Michael Lisi/Contemporary Art
Gretchen & Eric
By Robert Longo
Located in New York, NY
From the artist’s iconic, Men in the Cities series, Robert Longo created Gretchen & Eric in 1985, each as an original lithograph measuring 72 x 35 7/8 in. (182.9 x 91.1 cm), unframed...
Category

20th Century Modern Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Rick
By Robert Longo
Located in New York, NY
An iconic image by internationally acclaimed artist, Robert Longo, Rick was created as an original lithograph in 1994, is hand-signed, dated and numbered measuring 46 x 30 1/8 in (11...
Category

20th Century Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Eric
By Robert Longo
Located in New York, NY
Dancer, actor, musician and model, Eric Barsness was 24 years old when Robert Longo created this image for his infamous, Men in the Cities portfolio. A highly original color chromog...
Category

20th Century Robert Longo Art

Materials

C Print

Ellen
By Robert Longo
Located in New York, NY
Created by Robert Longo as an original lithograph on wove paper in 1999, Ellen measures 70 x 40 in. (178 x 102 cm.), unframed. The artwork is hand-signed, dated, and numbered from th...
Category

20th Century Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Untitled (Janet)
By Robert Longo
Located in New York, NY
An iconic image from Robert Longo’s, Men in the Cities series, this color print was created by the artist in 2016, is hand-signed, dated and numbered in black ink, measuring 18 x 14...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Robert Longo Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Jules, Robert Longo
By Robert Longo
Located in New York, NY
Instantly recognizable from the iconic, Men in the Cities series, Jules is an original lithograph created by Robert Longo in 1982-83 measuring 36 ½ x 21 in (92.7 x 53.3 cm), unframed...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Gretchen
By Robert Longo
Located in New York, NY
From the artist’s iconic, Men in the Cities series, Robert Longo created Gretchen in 1985 as an original lithograph measuring 72 x 35 7/8 in. (182.9 x 91.1 cm), unframed. The artwor...
Category

20th Century Modern Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Related Items
Andy Warhol, Jagger Announcement cards SET OF 10, Rolling Stones, Musician, Pop
By (after) Andy Warhol
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
After Andy Warhol. These lithographic prints feature an image of Mick Jagger - an iconic rock legend and the lead singer of the Rolling Stones. These unsigned postcard sized prints ...
Category

1970s Pop Art Robert Longo Art

Materials

Color, Lithograph

Pablo Picasso, "Three Colour Profile", original lithograph, hand signed
By Pablo Picasso
Located in Chatsworth, CA
Pablo Picasso "Three Colour Profile" 1956 Image Size: 16.5 x 20 inches Three colour litho on transfer From the edition of 50 numbered and signed proofs Picasso Lithographs- Fernand M...
Category

1950s Modern Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Mick Jagger VI - Andy Warhol, Announcement card, Rolling Stones, Musician, Pop
By (after) Andy Warhol
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Mick Jagger VI - After Andy Warhol. The line drawing placed on a golden backdrop is a feature unique to this print adding a sense of motion to Jagger’s features which shows him in a...
Category

1970s Pop Art Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Portrait Woman Original French Mourlot Modernist Lithograph 1951 Francoise Gilot
By Françoise Gilot
Located in Surfside, FL
Rare vintage limited edition Stone Lithograph printed at Mourlot in Paris. this is from a signed and numbered portfolio but the individual sheets are not hand signed and numbered. Francois Gilot, (1921-) studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and then, encouraged by her father, studied international law, though she secretly also took art lessons at the same time. In 1943, during her first exhibition in Paris, Gilot (then 21) met Pablo Picasso (who was 61) for the first time. In 1946, Gilot started a 10-year relationship with the notorious womanizer and had two of his children,Claude and Paloma. As a result of her relationship with Picasso, Gilot "became both a witness and a participant in one of the last great periods of the modern art movement in Europe. Their circle included poets, philosophers, writers, and many of the legends of the art world, such as Braque, Chagall, Cocteau and Matisse. In 1953, Gilot left Picasso and the home they shared in Vallauris and moved back to Paris. "Lithographs are printed from stones and each stone is an echo of my artistic voice," said Gilot. "Many artists use their art as a personal catharsis. I have never done that. I am more intellectual. Each artistic process -- oils, lithographs, monotypes -- allows me a different freedom and suits a different mood." While Gilot did her first lithograph in 1950 at the Mourlot Atelier, the same studio used by Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Jean Miro and Jean Dubuffet, it was in the 1970s that she really began to experiment with the process. "In the beginning I turned to lithography because I wanted to show off my technical skills. Now I am more interested in color," said Gilot. "I also thought that lithographs would make my works more accessible to young collectors." While her oils are priced up to $100,000, her lithographs begin at $2,000 and her monotypes range from $1,000 to $2,500. HONORS Officier de la Legion d'Honneur, Presidence de la Republique, France Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, Ministere de la Culture, France SELECTED MUSEUM COLLECTIONS Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris Musee Picasso, Antibes, France National Acadamy of Design, New York Musee de Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel Museum of Modern Art, New York Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (complete collection of original prints) SELECTED IMPORTANT EXHIBITION CATALOGUES 2012 Françoise Gilot, Paris - Vallauris, 1943 - 1953, The Gagosian Gallery, New York Essays: John Richardson, Françoise Gilot, Charles Stuckey and Michael Cory 2011 Françoise Gilot, at 90, Drawings 1941 - 2010, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany Essays: Françoise Gilot and Louise Tolliver Deutschman (exhibition curator) 2006 Françoise Gilot, Portraits From a Life, The Elkon Gallery Inc., New York 2003 Françoise Gilot Painting...
Category

1950s Modern Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Tah-Col-O-Quoit: Original 19th Century Hand-colored McKenney & Hall Lithograph
By McKenney & Hall
Located in Alamo, CA
This is an original 19th century hand-colored McKenney and Hall lithograph of a Native American entitled "Tah-Col-O-Quoit", lithographed b...
Category

Mid-19th Century Naturalistic Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Mick Jagger X - Andy Warhol, Announcement card, Rolling Stones, Musician, Pop
By (after) Andy Warhol
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Mick Jagger X - After Andy Warhol. This black and white colour scheme lithographic print features - Mick Jagger - an iconic rock legend who was the frontman and one of the founders ...
Category

1970s Pop Art Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Mick Jagger III - Andy Warhol, Announcement card, Rolling Stones, Musician, Pop
By (after) Andy Warhol
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Mick Jagger III - After Andy Warhol. In this print, Warhol incorporated solid abstract shapes to emphasize Jagger's features - here, focusing on the singer’s famous lips, along with...
Category

1970s Pop Art Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Jane Dickson Color Lithograph NYC Feminist Artist Film Noir White Collar Crime
By Jane Dickson
Located in Surfside, FL
Jane Dickson (b. 1952) Lithograph printed in colors, 1987, Dimensions: 24 X 18 Hand signed and dated in pencil, verso, numbered 12/84 verso, Embossed pictorial blindstamp of a closed hand with one raised index finger. Solo Press. From The Ten Commandments Kenny Scharf; Joseph Nechvatal; Gretchen Bender; April Gornik; Robert Kushner; Nancy Spero; Vito Acconci; Jane Dickson; Judy Rifka; Richard Bosman and Lisa Liebmann. Jane Dickson has been exhibiting her oil stick painting, watercolor drawing, and prints in museums and galleries domestically and internationally for two decades. She frequently works with unusual surfaces such as Astroturf, sandpaper, vinyl, or carpet to exploit the implicit references and the textural possibilities these materials offer. She was part of an eclectic East Village (Greenwich village) scene that included Keith Haring, John Crash Matos, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, Kenny Scharf, David Wojnarowicz, Robert Crumb and Richard Hambleton. After moving to the city in 1977, Dickson worked as a programmer for the iconic Times Square billboard project and with collectives Fashion Moda (with Jenny Holzer) and Collaborative Projects Inc. As a participant in the iconic Colab DIY “Times Square Show” and “Real Estate Show” of 1980, her work was seen alongside artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Fab 5 Freddy, Kenny Scharf, and Kiki Smith. Dickson’s paintings explore subjects such as peep shows, carnivals, and demolition derbies with dark irony. Widely exhibited, Dickson’s work has been shown in the 1985 Whitney Biennial Solo exhibitions of her work have been shown at The Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, Creative Time, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2008 she completed a mosaic for MTA in the 42nd street station. In 2010 she was invited to paint a leather jacket for the Andy Warhol Museum. In the early eighties, Warhol collected leather jackets, including one painted with his portrait and that of Jean-Michel Basquiat by the new wave artist Stefano Castronovo. Artists commissioned for this project include Castronovo, Rita Ackermann, Frederick “Fab Five Freddy” Brathwaite, Dan Colen, Ronnie Cutrone, Jane Dickson, Duncan Hannah, Lee Quinones, Tom Sachs, Kenny Scharf, Walter Steding and Ouattara Watts. Her images have appeared extensively in books and periodicals. She received awards from the National Academy of Arts & Science, the Joan Mitchell Foundation and was the recipient of the Bau Residency in Cassis, France. Museum Collections The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC The Bronx Museum, New York Yale University, CT Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art. PA The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois The Brooklyn Museum, New York The Katzen Art Center at American University, Washington DC Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin Illinois State University Gallery, Normal The Jewish Museum, NYC Kings College, Cambridge, England The Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA Minneapolis Museum of Art, MN The McNay Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts The Museum of the City of New York The Museum of Modern Art, New York The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C. The New School for Social Research, New York Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio The San Francisco Museum of Art, CA Victoria and Albert Museum, London Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Select Group Exhibitions 2019 New York Underground: East Village in the 80s , Wuhan, China Basquiat: The Artist and His New York Scene, Schunck Museum of Art, Heerlen, Netherlands 2018 New York Underground: East Village in the 80s, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea We Dissent: Design of the Women’s Movement in New York, Cooper Union Gallery, NYC Shoot the Pump, Bullet Space, NYC Zeitgeist: The Art Scene of Teenage Jean Michel Basquiat, Howl Happening and Maier Museum of Art, May China 2018 Art Expo Tour, Beijing Painter’s Academy, Beijing, China and Urumqi Painter’s Academy, Artist Multiples, curated by Jeffrey Deitch, Uniqlo Soho, NYC 2015 The Annual 2015: The Depth of the Surface, National Academy, New York, NY KIEV Biennial, Kiev Ukraine, Sept. "Mistakes Were Made" curated by John Miller Coney Art Walls Curated by Jeffrey Deitch, Coney Island, NYC 2010 Down by Law Eric Firestone...
Category

1980s Contemporary Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Mick Jagger VII - Andy Warhol, Announcement card, Rolling Stones, Musician, Pop
By (after) Andy Warhol
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Mick Jagger VII - After Andy Warhol. In this print, intense shades of black, maroon, gold and deep pink frame Jagger’s features and the placement of the line drawing creates a three-...
Category

1970s Pop Art Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Men in the Cities
By Robert Longo
Located in Miami, FL
Signed, dated '90 recto lower right, annotated 'V' recto lower center margin and numbered from the edition of 48 recto lower left in pencil. From the set of five published by Seibu D...
Category

1990s Contemporary Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Men in the Cities
By Robert Longo
Located in Miami, FL
Signed, dated '90 recto lower right, annotated 'IV' recto lower center margin and numbered from the edition of 48 recto lower left in pencil. From the set of five published by Seibu ...
Category

1990s Contemporary Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Marc Chagall - The Bible - Rachel - Original Lithograph
By Marc Chagall
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Marc Chagall, Original Lithograh depicting an instant of the Bible. Technique: Original lithograph in colours (Mourlot no. 234) On the reverse: another black and white original litho...
Category

1960s Modern Robert Longo Art

Materials

Lithograph

Robert Longo art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Robert Longo art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of purple, red and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Robert Longo in pigment print, lithograph, archival pigment print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Robert Longo art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Jasper Johns, John Baldessari, and Charles Bragg. Robert Longo art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $200 and tops out at $225,000, while the average work can sell for $18,755.

Artists Similar to Robert Longo

Questions About Robert Longo Art
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    Robert Longo uses cold roll paper. The artist himself explained in an interview that the paper he prefers is not handmade, instead it is machine-made, archival paper. Longo is best known for his paintings that capture realistic moments and express the inner strength of his subjects. Shop a selection of Longo pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    With roots in sculpture, contemporary artist Robert Longo is best known for his charcoal and graphite drawings, which showcased men and women in mid-movement. You can shop a selection of Robert Longo pieces from some of the world’s top dealers on 1stDibs.

Recently Viewed

View All