In the early 1960s Donald Judd abandoned painting, having recognized that “actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface.” His move into three dimensions was coincident with a growing acknowledgment among other artists of his generation of the physical environment as an integral aspect of an artwork. Minimalist sculpture broke with illusionistic conventions by translating compositional concerns into three dimensions, rendering the work a product of the exchange between the object, the viewer, and the environment.

In his 1965 treatise “Specific Objects,” Judd championed recent work that was neither painting nor sculpture by a diverse range of artists such as Lee Bontecou, Mark di Suvero, Claes Oldenburg, and Frank Stella. His endorsement of “the thing as a whole” rather than a composition of parts stemmed from what he saw as the strength and clarity asserted by singular forms, the unitary character of which resulted from the conflation of color, image, shape, and surface. Judd’s earliest freestanding sculptures were singular, boxlike forms constructed of wood or metal. The simple shape of Untitled (1968), with its slightly recessed upper surface, is readily intelligible as a whole and thus avoids the compositional effects that for Judd diluted a work’s power. As the artist’s exploration of three-dimensional space became more complex, his aversion to such effects was manifested in a number of strategies designed to subordinate a work’s individual components to the whole.

Like the rectangular shape with which he began, Judd’s rows and progressions are legible systems that reoccur in his oeuvre. In its repetition of serial forms and spaces, the vertical stack of Untitled (1969) literally incorporates space as one of its materials along with highly polished copper, creating a play between positive and negative that coheres as a totality. Similarly, in Untitled (1970), the application of a dual Fibonacci progression (a mathematically based sequence in which each number is the sum of the two previous two: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and so on) imparts an internal logic to both solid and void alike, the anodized color of the boxes throwing the mathematical system into greater relief. While spatial concerns were foremost for Judd, color and materials always remained central to his conception of art. A sustained and rigorous investigation of space and form, his work is tempered by a rich palette of industrial materials, such as stainless steel, aluminum, and translucent Plexiglas, the varied surfaces and finishes of which lend a sumptuous air to an otherwise austere undertaking.

J. Fiona Ragheb

Purchased from Leo Castelli, New York, by Panza in 1972; purchased by Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1991.

Solo
Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Don Judd, January 16–March 1, 1970. Traveled to Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, September 29–November 1, 1970. Catalogue in English and Dutch with essay by J. Leering; texts by Judd; and interview with Frank Stella and Judd by Bruce Glaser edited by Lucy R. Lippard; unpag. (exh. checklist no. 10; identified as brass). Typewritten exh. checklist for London (no. 8).

Pasadena Art Museum, California, Don Judd, May 11–July 4, 1971. Catalogue with essay by John Coplans and interview with Judd; p. 65 (cat. no. 16; published as Untitled, 1968).

Group
Stadthalle Düsseldorf and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (organized by Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kunstmuseum, and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf), Das Bild einer Geschichte 1956/1976: Die Sammlung Panza di Biumo. Die Geschichte eines Bildes: Action painting, Newdada, Pop art [more], Minimal Art, Conceptual, Environmental Art, September 19–October 12, 1980. Traveled to Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Minimal + Conceptual art [more] aus der Sammlung Panza, November 9, 1980–June 28, 1981. The work appeared at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf only. German catalogue by Germano Celant (Milan: Electa International, 1980): p. 111 (published as Solid Copper). Swiss edition by Franz Meyer: no reference to the work.

Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Arte minimal de la Colección Panza, March 24–December 31, 1988. Catalogue (Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, Dirección General de Bellas Artes y Archivos, Centro Nacional de Exposiciones, 1988) with essays by Germano Celant and Fernando Huici; pp. 36 (illus.), 60.

Lingotto, Turin, Arte americana 1930–70, January 9–March 31, 1992. Catalogue (Milan: Fabbri Editori, 1992) with essays by Matthew Baigell, Kenneth Baker, Renato Barilli, Alberto Boatto, Attilio Codognato, Furio Colombo, Claudio Gorlier, and Sam Hunter; pp. 295 (illus.), 362.

Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Amerikanische Kunst im 20. Jahrhundert: Malerei und Plastik 1913–1993, May 8–July 25, 1993. Traveled to Royal Academy of Arts and Saatchi Gallery, London, American Art in the Twentieth Century: Painting and Sculpture 1913–1993, September 16–December 12, 1993. Catalogue (Munich: Prestel Verlag; London: Royal Academy of Arts; Berlin: Zeitgeist-Gesellschaft, 1993) with essays by Brooks Adams, David Anfam, Richard Armstrong, John Beardsley, Neal Benezra, Arthur C. Danto, Abraham A. Davidson, Wolfgang Max Faust, Christos M. Joachimides, Mary Emma Harris, Thomas Kellein, Donald Kuspit, Mary Lublin, Karal Ann Marling, Barbara Moore, Francis V. O’Connor, Achille Bonito Oliva, Stephen Polcari, Carter Ratcliff, Norman Rosenthal, Irving Sandler, Wieland Schmied, Peter Selz, Gail Stavitsky, and Douglas Tallack; p. 413, cat. no. 203 (illus.). English edition (Munich: Prestel Verlag, 1993), p. 387, cat. no. 203 (illus.).

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, The Tradition of the New: Postwar Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection, May 20–September 11, 1994; gallery with Judd works, “In Memory of Donald Judd,” May 12–August 16, 1994.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Los museos Guggenheim y el arte de este siglo, October 18, 1997–April 5, 1998.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Pertzepzio Aldakorrak: Guggenheim Museoaren Panza Bilduma; Percepciones en Transformación: La Colección Panza del Museo Guggenheim, October 9, 2000–January 28, 2001.

Art of This Century: The Guggenheim Museum and Its Collection. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1993, 2d ed. 1997. Essays by Thomas Krens, Andrea Feeser, Lisa Dennison, Michael Govan, Jennifer Blessing, Diane Waldman, Nancy Spector, Julia Brown, and Clare Bell; pp. 268, 269 (illus.).

Donald Judd (exh. cat.). Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1975. In English and French. Includes essay by Roberta Smith and “Donald Judd: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Objects, and Wood-Blocks, 1960–1974” by Dudley Del Balso, Roberta Smith, and Brydon Smith; p. 206 (illus., cat. no. 204).

Knight, Christopher. Art of the Sixties and Seventies, pp. 98 (illus.), 263. Revised and expanded English edition: pp. 120 (illus. shows the work at Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 1988), 304. French edition: pp. 98 (illus.), 263. Italian edition: pp. 98 (illus.), 263. Revised and expanded Italian edition: pp. 120 (illus. shows the work at Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 1988), 304.

Spector, Nancy, ed. Guggenheim Museum Collection: A to Z. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1992, 2d ed. 2001, pp. 250, 251 (illus.).