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"monument" for V. Tatlin

A work made of cool white flourescent light.
© 2018 Stephen Flavin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • A work made of cool white flourescent light.

Date:

1964

Artist:

Dan Flavin
American, 1933–1996

About this artwork

Dan Flavin began creating sculptural objects from commercially available fluorescent-light fixtures in 1963. In the decades that followed, he made systematic arrangements of fluorescent-light tubes in ever-larger environments, exploring ways to activate architectural space through the diffusion of light and color. Rather than titling his works, Flavin often dedicated them to friends and artists he admired. The most famous of these include his Monuments for Tatlin, an ongoing homage to the Russian Constructivist sculptor Vladamir Tatlin (1885–1953), who dreamed of combining artistry and engineering. Attached to the wall and arranged vertically into a relief sculpture, the seven white fluorescent tubes here evoke Tatlin’s Monument to theThird International (1920), a spiral tower he designed but never realized.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Dan Flavin

Title

"monument" for V. Tatlin

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1964

Medium

Cool white flourescent light

Edition

3 of 5

Dimensions

243.8 × 71.1 × 12.1 cm (96 × 28 × 4 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Society for Contemporary Art; Twentieth-Century Purchase Fund

Reference Number

1978.154

Copyright

© 2018 Stephen Flavin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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