Dan Flavin

"monument" for V. Tatlin

About this artwork

Between 1964 and 1990 Dan Flavin embarked on a series of works titled 'monuments' for V. Tatlin, dedicated to the Russian avant-garde artist Vladimir Tatlin. Flavin was one of numerous American artists in in the 1960s who became interested in turn of the century Russian art. The 'Tatlins' demonstrate Flavin's interest in series and repetition, composed from white fluorescent tubes of differing commercially available sizes. Flavin described these sculptures as 'monuments' partly as a nod towards Tatlin’s unrealized, ambitious 'Monument to the Third International', 1919-20 and partly as an ironic statement, aware of the disparity between his modest materials and the grandeur of traditional sculpture. Their rectilinear, vertical designs resemble the Art Deco skyscrapers of New York, particularly the Empire State Building, 1931.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Dan Flavin (1933 - 1996) American
  • title:
    "monument" for V. Tatlin
  • date created:
    1969 - 1970
  • materials:
    Fluorescent tubes and metal
  • measurements:
    244.00 x 70.50 x 12.50 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Lent by the Estate of Dan Flavin 2013
  • accession number:
    AL00351
  • gallery:
  • subject:
  • glossary:
This artwork is part of Artist Rooms
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Dan Flavin

Dan Flavin