Dan Flavin - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Dan Flavin was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Minimalism

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...

artist famous for creating sculptural

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

objects and installations from commercially available fluorescent light fixtures.

Early life and career

Flavin studied for the priesthood in Brooklyn for a brief period of time before enlisting in the United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

. During military service in 1954–55, Flavin studied art through the University of Maryland Extension Program in Korea. Upon his return to New York in 1956, Flavin briefly attended the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts and studied art under Albert Urban. He later studied art history for a short time at the New School for Social Research, then moved on to Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, where he studied painting and drawing.

From 1959, Flavin was shortly employed as a guard and elevator operator at the Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...

, where he met Sol LeWitt

Sol LeWitt

Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism....

, Lucy Lippard, and Robert Ryman

Robert Ryman

Robert Ryman is an American painter identified with the movements of monochrome painting, minimalism, and conceptual art. He is best known for abstract, white-on-white paintings. He lives and works in New York.-Early life and career:...

. Two years later, he married his first wife Sonja Severdija.

Flavin married his second wife, the artist Tracy Harris

Tracy Harris

Tracy Harris is an American artist. She was born in Lawton, Oklahoma and grew up in Dallas, Texas, later moving to Long Island, New York in 1992, upon her marriage to American minimalist artist, Dan Flavin....

, in a ceremony at the Guggenheim Museum

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...

, in 1992.

Flavin died in Riverhead, New York. His estate is represented by David Zwirner

David Zwirner

David Zwirner is a gallerist and art dealer and owner of the David Zwirner Gallery in New York City. In 2010 Zwirner was listed at number four in the ArtReview annual "Power 100" list.-Early Life:...

, New York.

Early work

Flavin’s first works were drawings and paintings that reflected the influence of Abstract Expressionism

Abstract expressionism

Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...

. In 1959, he began to make assemblages and collages.

In the summer of 1961, while working as a guard at the American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...

in New York, Flavin started to make sketches for sculptures that incorporated electric lights. The first works to incorporate electric light were his "Icons" series: eight colored shallow, boxlike square constructions made from various materials such as wood, Formica, or Masonite. Constructed by the artist and his then-wife Sonja, the Icons had fluorescent tubes with incandescent and fluorescent bulbs attached to their sides, and sometimes beveled edges. One of these icons was dedicated to Flavin's twin brother David, who died of polio in 1962. "

Mature work

The "Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy (the Diagonal of May 25, 1963)," a yellow fluorescent placed on a wall at a 45-degree angle from the floor and completed in 1963, was Flavin's first mature work; it is dedicated to Constantin Brâncuşi

Constantin Brancusi

Constantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...

and marks the beginning of Flavin's exclusive use of fluorescent light as a medium. In the decades that followed, he continued to use fluorescent structures to explore color, light and sculptural space, in works that filled gallery interiors. These structures cast both light and an eerily-colored shade, while taking a variety of forms, including "corner pieces", "barriers," and "corridors." Most of Flavin's works were untitled, followed by a dedication in parenthesis to friends, artists, critics and others: the most famous of these include his "Monuments to V. Tatlin," an homage to the Russian constructivist

Constructivism (art)

Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...

sculptor Vladimir Tatlin

Vladimir Tatlin

Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin was a Russian and Soviet painter and architect. With Kazimir Malevich he was one of the two most important figures in the Russian avant-garde art movement of the 1920s, and he later became the most important artist in the Constructivist movement...

, which he continued to work on between 1964 and 1990.

By 1968, Flavin had developed his sculptures into room-size environments of light. That year, he outlined an entire gallery in ultraviolet light at Documenta 4 in Kassel

Kassel

Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...

, Germany. Additional sites for his architectural “interventions” became the Hamburger Bahnhof

Hamburger Bahnhof

Hamburger Bahnhof is a former railway station in Berlin, Germany, on Invalidenstraße in the Moabit district opposite the Charité hospital. Today it serves as the Museum für Gegenwart , a contemporary art museum....

in Berlin (1996), and the Chinati Foundation

Chinati Foundation

The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati is a contemporary art museum located in Marfa, Texas and based upon the ideas of its founder, artist Donald Judd.- Mission :...

in Marfa, Texas (2000). In 1992, Flavin’s original conception for a 1971 piece was fully realized in a site-specific installation that filled the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

's entire rotunda on the occasion of the museum’s reopening.

His last artwork was a site-specific work

Site-specific art

Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork...

at Santa Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa

Santa Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa

- History :The name "Chiesa Rossa" derived from the old church of "Santa Maria" near the "Naviglio Pavese" canal called also "Santa Maria ad Fonticulum"....

, Milan, Italy. The 1930s church was designed by Giovanni Muzio

Giovanni Muzio

Giovanni Muzio was an Italian architect. Muzio was born and died in Milan and is most closely associated with the Novecento Italiano group....

. The design for the piece was completed two days before Flavin's death on November 29, 1996. Its installation was completed one year later with the assistance of the Dia Center for the Arts

Dia Art Foundation

Dia Art Foundation is a non-profit organization that initiates, supports, presents, and preserves art projects. It was established in 1974 as the Lone Star Foundation by Philippa de Menil, the daughter of Houston arts patron Dominique de Menil and an heiress to the Schlumberger oil exploration...

and Fondazione Prada.

The Menil Collection

Menil Collection

The Menil Collection, located in Houston refers either to a museum that houses the private art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself...

in Houston, Texas states that in 1990 Dominique de Menil approached Flavin to create a permanent, site-specific installation at Richmond Hall. Just two days before his death in November 1996 Flavin completed the design for the space. The artist’s studio completed the work.

Recognition

In 1983, the Dia Center for the Arts

Dia Art Foundation

opened the Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton, New York

Bridgehampton, New York

Bridgehampton is a hamlet in the South Fork of Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 1,381 at the 2000 census....

, a permanent exhibition of his works, designed by the artist in a converted firehouse. In 2004, Flavin's work Untitled ("monument" for V. Tatlin)' (1964–1965) was sold for $735,500 at Christie's

Christie's

Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...

, New York.

Exhibitions

Flavin's first one-person exhibition using only fluorescent light opened at the Green Gallery

Green Gallery

The Green Gallery was an art gallery that operated between 1960 and 1965 and was located at 15 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York, United States. The director of the gallery was Richard Bellamy , and it was one of the first uptown galleries to show the work of the downtown New York avant-garde...

in 1964. Two years later, his first European show opened at Rudolf Zwirner's gallery in Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, Germany. The first major retrospective of Flavin’s work was organized by the National Gallery of Canada

National Gallery of Canada

The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...

, Ottawa in 1969. In 1973 the Saint Louis Art Museum

Saint Louis Art Museum

The Saint Louis Art Museum is one of the principal U.S. art museums, visited by up to a half million people every year. Admission is free through a subsidy from the cultural tax district for St. Louis City and County.Located in Forest Park in St...

presented concurrent exhibitions of his works on paper and fluorescent sculptures. Among Flavin’s many significant one-person exhibitions in Europe were shows at the Kunstmuseum Basel

Kunstmuseum Basel

The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the largest and most significant public art collection in Switzerland, and is listed as a heritage site of national significance. Its lineage extends back to the Amerbach Cabinet purchased by the city of Basel in 1661, which made it the first municipally owned museum...

and Kunsthalle Basel

Kunsthalle Basel

Since opening in 1872, Kunsthalle Basel has examined various positions concerning contemporary art. This renowned exhibition space in the Swiss city of Basel has a very long tradition of supporting avant-garde artists and expanding the accepted boundaries of contemporary art. Contemporary art...

(1975), the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden (1989), and the Städtische Galerie im Städel, Frankfurt (1993). In the late 1970s, he began a partnership with the Dia Art Foundation

Dia Art Foundation

that resulted in the making of several permanent site-specific installations and led most recently to the organization of the traveling exhibition, Dan Flavin: A Retrospective (2004–2007).

Flavin’s retrospective exhibition traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...

; the National Gallery of Art

National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...

, Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Modern Art, Fort Worth, Texas; Hayward Gallery

Hayward Gallery

The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre, part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames, in central London, England. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings and also the Royal National Theatre and British Film Institute...

, London; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris is the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art dedicated to the arts of the 20th/21st centuries. It is located at 11 Avenue du Président Wilson in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.-Description:...

, Paris; Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....

, Los Angeles. This exhibition was the first comprehensive retrospective devoted to his minimalist work. The exhibition included nearly 45 light works, including his "icons" series. The MCA's presentation included the re-creation of the alternating pink and "gold" room from the original MCA exhibition in 1967, Flavin's first solo museum exhibition.

Since 2010, Dan Flavin's estate has been represented by David Zwirner

David Zwirner

David Zwirner is a gallerist and art dealer and owner of the David Zwirner Gallery in New York City. In 2010 Zwirner was listed at number four in the ArtReview annual "Power 100" list.-Early Life:...

. During his life, he was represented primarily by the Green Gallery

Green Gallery

, Kornblee Gallery, Dwan Gallery, John Weber Gallery, Leo Castelli Gallery

Leo Castelli

Leo Castelli was an American art dealer. He was best known to the public as an art dealer whose gallery showcased cutting edge Contemporary art for five decades...

, and PaceWildenstein

PaceWildenstein

The Pace Gallery is a contemporary and modern art gallery founded by Arne Glimcher in Boston 1960 as The Pace Gallery. The gallery moved to Manhattan in 1963 and from 1993 to 2010 operated jointly with Wildenstein & Co. as PaceWildenstein. There are three locations in Manhattan and one in...

United States

Arizona

untitled (in memory of "Sandy" Calder) V 1/5, 1977, Private Collector, Scottsdale

California

untitled (to Marianne), 1970, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla
monument for V Tatlin, 1969, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
untitled (to Robert, Joe, and Michael), 1975–82, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
untitled (to Charles Cowles), 1963, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Mrs. Reppin's survival, 1966, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
untitled 1/3, 1969, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

Colorado

untitled (for A. C.), 1992, Denver Art Museum, Denver

District of Columbia

untitled, 1980, Administered by United States General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program, Washington
"monument" for V. Tatlin 1/5, 1968, National Gallery of Art, Washington
"monument" for V. Tatlin 4/5, 1969–70, National Gallery of Art, Washington
untitled (to Barnett Newman to commemorate his simple problem, red, yellow, and blue) 4/5, 1969–70, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Illinois

untitled (monument for V. Tatlin), 1970, Private Collector, Chicago
the alternate diagonals of March 2, 1964 (to Don Judd), 1964, Private Collector, Chicago

Iowa

untitled (for Ellen), Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines

Massachusetts

Barbara Roses, 1962–1965, Smith College, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton

Michigan

"monument" for V. Tatlin, 1969, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit

Minnesota

untitled, 1963, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
untitled, 1966, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
"monument" for V. Tatlin 3/5, 1969, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Nebraska

untitled, 1964, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Lincoln

New Hampshire

untitled (To Elita and her baby, Cintra), 1970, Dartmouth College, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover

New York

gold, pink and red, red 2/3, 1964, Dia Art Foundation, Beacon
monument 4 for those who have been killed in ambush (to P.K. who reminded me about death) 2/3, 1966, Dia Art Foundation, Beacon
the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brâncuşi) 3/3, 1963, Dia Art Foundation, Beacon first entirely fluorescent work
the nominal three (to William of Ockham) 2/3, 1963, Dia Art Foundation, Beacon
untitled (to a man, George McGovern) 2 2/3, 1972, Dia Art Foundation, Beacon
untitled (to the real Dan Hill) 1b 1/5, 1978, Dia Art Foundation, Beacon
untitled, 1996, Dia Art Foundation, Beacon
red out of a corner (to Annina) 3/3, 1963, Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton
untitled 2/3, 1976, Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton
untitled (to Robert, Joe and Michael) 2/3, 1975–81, Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton
untitled (to Jan and Ron Greenberg) 2/3, 1972–73, Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton
untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) 3 1/3, 1977, Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton
untitled (to Katharina and Christoph), [from the series to European couples] 1/5, 1971, Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton
untitled (to Jim Schaeufele) 1 1/3, 1972, Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton
untitled (to Jim Schaeufele) 2 1/3, 1972, Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton
untitled (to Jim Schaeufele) 3 1/3, 1972, Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton
"monument" for V. Tatlin, 1964, Museum of Modern Art, New York
pink out of a corner - to Jasper Johns, 1963, Museum of Modern Art, New York
untitled (to the "Innovator" of Wheeling Peachblow) 2/3, 1968, Museum of Modern Art, New York
untitled, 1968, Museum of Modern Art, New York
three fluorescent tubes, 1963, Private Collector, New York
icon V (Coran's Broadway flesh), 1962, Private Collector, New York
icon VIII (to Blind Melon Jefferson), 1962, Private Collector, New York
"monument" for V. Tatlin 1/5, 1964, Private Collector, New York
"monument" for V. Tatlin 4/5, 1964, Private Collector, New York
untitled (to Henri Matisse) 3/3, 1964, Private Collector, New York
untitled (for Ad Reinhardt) 1b 1/5, 1990, Private Collector, New York
greens crossing greens (to Piet Mondrian who lacked green), 1966, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
the nominal three (to William of Ockham), 1963, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
untitled (to Tracy, to celebrate the love of a lifetime), 1992, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
untitled (to Ward Jackson, and old friend and colleague who, during the Fall of 1957 when I finally returned to New York from Washington and joined him to work together in this museum, kindly communicated), 1971, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
untitled (for Robert, with fond regards), 1977, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
untitled, 1966, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
untitled, 1966, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

North Carolina

untitled, 1971, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte

Ohio

untitled (to Janie Lee) one, 1971, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus
untitled (Fondly to Helen), 1976, Private Collector, Cincinnati
untitled (to Ellen Johnson, fondly), 1975, Oberlin College, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin

Oregon

untitled (To Donna) II , 1971, Portland Art Museum
untitled (for Robert Ryman) 2/5, 1996, Miller-Meigs Collection, Portland

Texas

alternate diagonals of March 2, 1964 (to Don Judd) 2/3, 1964, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brâncuşi) 2/3, 1963, Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth
monument 1 for V. Tatlin, 1964, Menil Collection, Houston
untitled (to Barbara Wood), 1970, Menil Collection, Houston
untitled frieze, 1996, Menil Collection, Richmond Hall, Houston
untitled foyer, 1996, Menil Collection, Richmond Hall, Houston
untitled interior, 1996, Menil Collection, Richmond Hall, Houston
icon III, 1962, Chinati Foundation, Marfa
icon VI (Ireland dying)(to Louis Sullivan), 1962, Chinati Foundation, Marfa

Washington

untitled (To Donna), 1973, Private Collector, Seattle

International

Canada

the alternate diagonals of March 2, 1964 (To Don Judd), 1964, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
untitled corner piece, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
"monument" for V. Tatlin, 1969–1970, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
"monument" for V. Tatlin, 1968, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
untitled (to Barnett Newman to commemorate his simple problem, red, yellow and blue), 1970, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
untitled, 1971, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

France

"monument" for V. Tatlin, 1975, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris
untitled (To Donna) 5a, 1971, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris

United Kingdom

"monument" to V. Tatlin, 1975, Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland
monument for V. Tatlin, 1966–1969, Tate Gallery, London
untitled, 1969, Tate Gallery, London
a primary picture 2/3, 1964, Hermes Trust U.K., London
untitled (to Lucie Rie, master potter) 1c 2/5, 1990, Waddington Galleries Ltd., London
untitled (to Lucie Rie, master potter) 1jjj 2/5, 1990, Waddington Galleries Ltd., London
untitled (to Lucie Rie, master potter) 1o 1/5, 1990, Waddington Galleries Ltd., London

Estate Collection

icon I (the heart) (to the light of Sean McGovern which blesses everyone), 1961
icon II (the mystery) (to John Reeves), 1961
pink out of a corner - to Jasper Johns, 1963
"monument" 1 for V. Tatlin, 1964, Sonja Flavin collection
Corner Monument 4, 1966
"monument" for V. Tatlin, 1967
"monument" for V. Tatlin, 1967
untitled (to Janie Lee) one, 1971
untitled (to Emily), 1973
untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection), 1973
untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) 3, 1977
"monument" for V. Tatlin, 1981
untitled (to Piet Mondrian), 1985
untitled (for Donald Judd, colorist) 1, 1987
untitled (for Donald Judd, colorist) 2, 1987
untitled (for Donald Judd, colorist) 3, 1987
untitled (for Donald Judd, colorist) 4, 1987
untitled (for Donald Judd, colorist) 5, 1987
untitled, 1989
untitled (for Ad Reinhardt) 2b, 1990

External links

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Early life and career

Early work

Mature work

Recognition

Exhibitions

United States

International

Estate Collection

See also

External links