The Rock (The Supreme Court of the United States--Split)
2018
Artist, American, born 1953
The enormous size of this work is astounding—and confounding. Is it a colossal photograph? Astonishingly, it is a highly realistic and meticulously detailed charcoal drawing. The work itself is as monumental as its subject, the US Supreme Court building in Washington, DC. Why did the artist split the magnificent façade of the building in two? When Robert Longo made this drawing in 2018, there were four liberal and four conservative justices on the Supreme Court. The separate panels refer to that division. The dark clouds gathering above the highest judicial body in the United States hint at its stormy future.
Artwork overview
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Medium
charcoal on two sheets of paper mounted to aluminum
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
overall: 307.66 × 371.79 cm (121 1/8 × 146 3/8 in.)
panel (.a): 307.66 × 180.82 cm (121 1/8 × 71 3/16 in.)
panel (.b): 307.66 × 180.82 cm (121 1/8 × 71 3/16 in.) -
Accession
2023.6.3.a-b
More About this Artwork
Article: Robert Longo’s Huge Drawings of America’s Seats of Power
The American artist challenges our ideas about the medium with some of the largest drawings you’ll ever see.
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
The artist; Pace Gallery, New York; gifted to the NGA, Washington, 2023
Associated Names
Exhibition History
2020
Robert Longo: Storm of Hope, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, November 21, 2020 - February 27, 2021
2021
Storm of Hope: Law & Disorder, Palm Springs Art Museum, CA, June 26, 2021 - March 27, 2022
2022
We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, July 2, 2022 - January 2, 2023
2023
Robert Longo Drawings: Engines of State, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2023-2024.
2025
Robert Longo: The Acceleration of History, Milwaukee Art Museum, October 2024-February 2025