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.
$36,000
Tillman, Large Hand Signed Lithograph, Pop Art, 1999, Framed, Edition 50/50
By Robert Longo
Located in Aventura, FL
Lithograph on on Arches wove paper from Men in the Cities portfolio. Hand signed and numbered by Robert Longo. Published by Wolfryd-Selway Fine Art, New York, with their blindstamp....
Paper, Lithograph
$11,200
Russian Bomb (Semipalatinsk), Hand Signed Digital Print, Signed Edition of 35
By Robert Longo
Located in Aventura, FL
Hand signed, dated and numbered by the artist. Published by Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin. Image: 21.75 x 15.75 in. Sheet: 23.875 x 17.875 in. Frame: 32.5 x 26.5 in. Artwork is in exce...
Paper, Digital
$450
H 24 in W 36 in
Calm Costa Rica Shore, Minimal Large Black and White Giclée Photograph Seascape
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive limited edition black and white giclée print, on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art matte paper. This series of black and white photographs captures the ...
Rag Paper, Black and White
$450
H 36 in W 24 in
Black and White Vertical Seascape of Morning Seashore, Mediterranean Landscape
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive limited edition black and white giclée print, on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art matte paper. This series of black and white photographs captures the ...
C Print, Rag Paper
$3,750
H 30 in W 60 in D 0.1 in
'Awakening' Master Edition Photographic Triptych. Yosemite Mountains Trees Light
By Sophia Milligan
Located in Penzance, GB
'Awakening' Archival photographic triptych. Unique Master Edition of 1. Unframed. _________________ Morning light illuminates the layered landscape of Yosemite National Park, Half D...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Giclée, Archival Pigment
Nevada Fall, Yosemite
By George Fiske
Located in Pacific Grove, CA
This albumen silver print is signed and numbered in the negative. Printed c. 1880s.
Silver
Palm Trees on St. Martin
By Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
In April 1983, Warhol travels to St. Martin with Jon Gould, Christopher Makos & Peter Wise. On April 15, he remarks in his diaries, “The most beautiful day in the world. Photographed all day." This is a unique work. Image dimensions: 8 x 10 in. Framed dimensions: 16.25 x 18.25 x 1.25 in. Stamped twice on the reverse by both The Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation...
Silver Gelatin
$2,777
H 20 in W 16 in
Trinity Church Wall Street, New York, Black and White Gelatin Photograph, 20x16
By Leonard Freed
Located in New york, NY
Trinity Church, Wall Street, 1995 by Leonard Freed is a 20" x 16" black and white gelatin silver photograph. The urban landscape photograph captures Freed's interest in New York City architecture, a city he loved, as well as reveals the photographer's masterful techniques in using light...
Silver Gelatin, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper
Jon Gould Walking Cliffside Montauk
By Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
From The Jon Gould Collection of Andy Warhol Photographs This work is not signed by the artist, however, each photo is unique and blind embossed “Andy Warhol” in the lower right co...
Silver Gelatin
$450
H 24 in W 36 in
Black & White Shoreline of British Pebble Beach, Horizontal Seascape, Zen Waves
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive limited edition black and white giclée print, on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art matte paper. This series of black and white photographs captures the ...
Emulsion, Lithograph, Monoprint, Paper
$18,000
H 8 in W 10 in
Andy Warhol, View from The Factory at 860 Broadway Looking Down at Union Sq West
By Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
This is a unique photographic work taken by Andy Warhol from The Factory at 860 Broadway looking down at the prior Factory at 33 Union Square West. It is illustrated in The Andy Warh...
Silver Gelatin
Jon Gould Jumping off Rock in Montauk
By Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
From The Jon Gould Collection of Andy Warhol Photographs This work is not signed by the artist, however, each photo is unique and blind embossed “Andy Warhol” in the lower right co...
Silver Gelatin
Aspen Colorado Landscape
By Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
This work is unique Stamped twice on the reverse by both The Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts...
Silver Gelatin
$450
H 36 in W 24 in
Large Vertical Black and White Seascape of Foamy Shore, Sugimoto Style, Shore
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive limited edition black and white giclée print, on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art matte paper. This series of black and white photographs captures the ...
Emulsion, Photographic Paper, C Print, Giclée