Monument to V. Tatlin

Currently not on view

Monument to V. Tatlin

1966

Dan Flavin (American, 1933–1996)

Removed from its typical context and function, the standard fluorescent light tube became a rich resource in Dan Flavin's work. This piece, one of his "Monuments to Tatlin" created between 1964 and 1982, is named for the Russian Constructivist artist Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953). Tatlin's own (never-realized) Monument to the Third International (1919) was to be a spiraling structure of rotating glass rooms suspended in an open iron framework, designed in celebration of the Russian revolution and the modern technological age. In Monument to V. Tatlin, Flavin, who described his sculptures as "anti-monuments," expresses his ambivalence toward Tatlin's utopian ideals while creating his own equally radical work of pure abstraction.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Monument to V. Tatlin

Date:

1966

Artist:

Dan Flavin (American, 1933–1996)

Medium:

Fluorescent lights

Dimensions:

12 feet 3 inches × 27 3/4 inches × 5 inches (373.4 × 70.5 × 12.7 cm)

Classification:

Sculpture

Credit Line:

Purchased with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and with funds contributed by private donors, 1979

Accession Number:

1979-75-1

Geography:

Made in United States, North and Central America

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Currently not on view