Index Magazine

Art Talk: Dan Flavin’s Relief Aquatint Technique

July 1, 2020
A split-screen image shows on the left six prints in a grid-like pattern: three rows include two colored circular prints each on a square gray background. On the right, a young woman wearing a navy sweatshirt and black apron sits at a table with her hands folded, a bulletin board of artist tools behind her.

Conservator and printmaker Christina Taylor demonstrates the relief aquatint printing technique that artist Dan Flavin used to create three incredible prints now in the collections of the Harvard Art Museums.

This video is part of our Art Talks series, in which our team of curators, conservators, fellows, and graduate students share short, informal videos that offer an up-close look at works from the collections. 

Speaker:
Christina Taylor, Assistant Paper Conservator, Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies

Works explored:
Dan Flavin, American, Untitled, 1992. Double-sided relief aquatint, printed in green and warm violet, on handmade paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund, M25122.A. © Dan Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, N.Y.

Dan Flavin, American, Untitled, 1992. Double-sided relief aquatint, printed in yellow and violet, on handmade paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund, M25122.B. © Dan Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, N.Y.

Dan Flavin, American, Untitled, 1992. Double-sided relief aquatint, printed in blue and warm violet, on handmade paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund, M25122.C. © Dan Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, N.Y.

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