Lot 39
Robert Longo(American, born 1953)Untitled, 1978
13 November 2019, 17:00 EST
New YorkUS$60,000 - US$80,000
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Robert Longo (American, born 1953)
Untitled, 1978
graphite on board, with a male figure study on the reverse
30 x 39 3/4 in.
76.2 x 101 cm.
This work was executed in 1978.
graphite on board, with a male figure study on the reverse
30 x 39 3/4 in.
76.2 x 101 cm.
This work was executed in 1978.
Footnotes
Provenance
Max Protetch Gallery, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
New York, Max Protetch Gallery, Re-Figuration, 1979
Literature
John P. O'Neill, Ed., The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984, New York 2009, p. 233, fig. 79, illustrated in black and white (studio installation view)
Between 1979 and 1982, Robert Longo created a series of drawings entitled Men in the Cities, his best-known body of work. The present drawing is a precursor to this series. The work depicts two figures who are side by side but are unconnected, each appearing to be confined to their own private worlds. The theme of urban isolation addressed in this work is an area that Longo continued to develop throughout the series.
The present drawing was included in one of the first new figurative exhibitions that appeared in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Re-Figuration was held at Max Protetch Gallery, New York, between 1979-80 and the show identified a new trend among a younger generation of artists who returned to figuration as an important element in their work, rejecting the post-minimal and abstract trends of the 1960s and 1970s. The show also included works by, then relatively unknown artists, Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons.
Although Longo studied sculpture, drawing remains the artist's favorite form of self-expression. The influence of sculpture continues to pervade his drawing technique, as Longo's "portraits" have a distinctive chiseled line that seems to give his drawings a three-dimensional quality. Longo uses graphite like clay, molding it to create images like the writhing, dancing figures as seen in Men in the Cities.
Longo rode the popularity of Men in the Cities to art world prominence in the mid-1980s and has maintained such prominence ever since. His work can be found in major private and institutional collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Broad Art Foundation, Los Angeles and Tate Modern, London.
