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.
Robert Longo, Janet (from Men in the Cities) - Signed Photograph
By Robert Longo
Located in Hamburg, DE
Robert Longo (American, born 1953) Janet (from Men in the Cities), 1981/2016 Medium: Archival pigment print in colours, on Canson Platine fiber paper Dimensions: 47.7 x 35.5 cm Editi...
Archival Pigment
Robert Longo, Eric, NYC: Signed C-Print and Artist's Book
By Robert Longo
Located in Hamburg, DE
Robert Longo (b.1953) Eric, NYC, 1980, 2009 Medium: C-print on photo paper (incl. artist’s book) Dimensions: 25.5 x 18.5 cm (10 × 7 1/4 in) Edition of 100: Hand-signed in black pen
C Print
$1,088
H 40 in W 50 in D 0.1 in
'Harvest Dance' Movement dance figures gold yellow orange fire nature wild
By Sophia Milligan
Located in Penzance, GB
'Harvest Dance' Limited edition archival photograph. Unframed, hand signed and numbered _________________ Late August, captured in the glow of the evening sun, my daughters join han...
Archival Paper, Archival Pigment, Archival Ink, Giclée
Winged Migration
By Tom Chambers
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Entropic Kingdom I present unspoken stories which illustrate fleeting moments in time and which are intended to evoke a mood in the viewer. These mythical illustrations might addr...
Archival Pigment
$1,500
H 22 in W 40 in D 0.1 in
Untitled TV I, From the series Ser Cosa, Color Photograph
By RODRIGO ETEM
Located in Miami Beach, FL
This series of portraits that at first glance appear to us as extraterrestrial beings, once we understand the images they become more familiar than they appear, “humans too human” pe...
Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment
Battle of Red Buttes, Casper, Wyoming, 2015
By Edie Winograde
Located in New York, NY
From series “Place and Time”: Battle of Red Buttes, Casper, Wyoming, 2015 23'x29" edition of 10 available unframed Originally from northern California, Edie Winograde moved to ...
Archival Pigment
$5,500
H 29 in W 43 in
People Walking In To The Light , NYC, Color Photography Print, Signed, 4/15
By Mitchell Funk
Located in Miami, FL
The work is signed, dated, and numbered 4/15 in the lower right recto corner, with other sizes available. It is unframed and printed later. Printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art paper. Mit...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
$16,500
H 48 in W 60 in D 0.1 in
Venaria Reale VII, Torino, Italy by Massimo Listri
By Massimo Listri
Located in New York City, NY
Chromogenic Print – Unframed Free Shipping – Ask us for custom framing options. 40 x 48 inches - edition of 5 48 x 60 inches - edition of 5 71 x 88.5 inches - edition of 5 "My ph...
Archival Paper, C Print
Massimo Listri, Reggia di Portici III, Napoli
By Massimo Listri
Located in New York, NY
Reggia di Portici, III Napoli, 2013 Chromogenic print Edition of 5 Signed, dated, and numbered on verso label Mounted on aluminum, framed 39.5 x 47.5 inches edition of 5 47.5 x...
C Print
Archivio Banco di Napoli I, Italy
By Massimo Listri
Located in New York City, NY
48 x 60 inches - edition of 5 Chromogenic Print – Unframed Signed by the artist - Certificate of Authenticity Free Shipping – Ask us foar custom framing options. As a world-renowned...
Archival Paper, C Print
Massimo Listri, Castello di Rivoli, Piemonte, Italy
By Massimo Listri
Located in New York City, NY
Chromogenic Print – Unframed Free Shipping – Ask us for custom framing options. 40 x 48 inches - edition of 5 48 x 60 inches - edition of 5 71 x 88.5 inches - edition of 5 "My ph...
Archival Paper, C Print
Biblioteca di Seitenstetten, Austria
By Massimo Listri
Located in New York City, NY
48 x 60 inches - edition of 5 Chromogenic Print – Unframed Signed by the artist - Certificate of Authenticity Free Shipping – Ask us foar custom framing options. As a world-renowned...
Archival Paper, C Print
Galleria dellAccademia (David by Michelangelo)
By Massimo Listri
Located in New York, NY
Galleria dellAccademia, 2009 C print Edition of 5 cm 100X120 120X150 180X225 inch 39.40x47.28 47.28x59.10 70.92x88.65 Massimo Listri is a Florence-based photographer whose work o...
C Print
$1,743
H 23.63 in W 15.75 in
A Day in the Museum XXXIII, Grand Palais - Limited Edition Fine Art Photography
By Gérard Uféras
Located in Vienna, AT
A day in the museum is about more than some of the most famous and fascinating pieces of art. In this series French photographer Gérard Uféras examines the practice of going to the m...
Archival Pigment
Sold
H 18 in W 14.02 in D 0.08 in
Cindy And Eric - Pigment Print on Paper by Robert Longo - 2014
By Robert Longo
Located in Roma, IT
Image dimensions of each of the photos: 37.8x25.4 cm. Cindy And Eric is an original artwork, pigment prints on paper, from the series Men in the Cities, realized by Robert Longo in 1...
Photographic Paper