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Dan Flavin: A Retrospective

October 3, 2004 – January 9, 2005
East Building, Upper Level, Northeast, North Bridge and Mezzanine, Northeast

Dan Flavin, untitled (to Barnett Newman to commemorate his simple problem, red, yellow and blue), 1970, red, yellow, and blue fluorescent light, Gift of the Barnett & Annalee Newman Foundation in honor of Annalee G. Newman, and the Nancy Lee and Perry Bass Fund, Photo: Billy Jim, New York © Stephen Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. 2004.40.1

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: 44 light installations and 96 drawings, sketches, and collage-constructions were in this exhibition illustrating the artist's experimentation with fluorescent light over 35 years. This first comprehensive retrospective of the artist's work was the culmination of a research effort that included publication of the catalogue raisonné to Flavin's light installations. The exhibition included untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection), a 120-foot-long installation in green fluorescent light, which was visible outside the museum from Pennsylvania Avenue. The catalogue raisonné, Dan Flavin: The Complete Lights, incorporated the exhibition catalogue and was published to coincide with the exhibition

A public symposium held on October 23 and 24, included lectures, a panel discussion, and interviews with members of the art community who knew Flavin. Family workshops were held on October 17, November 21, and December 5.

Organization: The exhibition in Washington was organized by Dia Art Foundation, New York, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art. Michael Govan, director and president of Dia Art Foundation, and Tiffany Bell, director of the Dan Flavin catalogue raisonné project, were the curators.

Sponsor: The national tour was sponsored by Altria Group. The exhibition at the National Gallery was supported by Lehman-Smith + McLeish. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were supported by Lannan Foundation. Research for the exhibition and publication was supported by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Attendance: 80,937

Catalog: Dan Flavin: A Retrospective, by Michael Govan and Tiffany Bell, et al. New York: Dia Art Foundation; Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art; in association with Yale University Press, 2004.

Brochure: Dan Flavin: A Retrospective. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2004.

Other Venues: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, February 25–June 5, 2005
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, July 1–October 30, 2005
Hayward Gallery, London, January 19–April 2, 2006
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, June 8–October 8, 2006
Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, November 22, 2006–March 4, 2007
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, May 13–August 12, 2007

Flavin, Dan
American, 1933 - 1996