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 1973; purchased by Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1991.

Solo
Leo Castelli warehouse, New York, Don Judd, April 11–May 9, 1970.

Pasadena Art Museum, California, Don Judd, May 11–July 4, 1971. Catalogue with essay by John Coplans and interview with Judd; p. 66 (cat. no. 37).

Group
The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Monumental Art, September 13–November 1, 1970. Catalogue with essays by William A. Leonard, Lawrence Alloway, and Douglas McAgy; unpag. (exh. checklist).

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 was exhibited at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and in Basel. German catalogue by Germano Celant (Milan: Electa International, 1980): p. 107 (illus.). Swiss edition: Franz Meyer. Minimal + Conceptual Art aus der Sammlung Panza. Basel: Museum für Gegenwartskunst, 1981, pp. 25, 26 (illus.), 27 (cat. no. 4). (The work is published as Clear anodized and purple anodized aluminium in both catalogues.)

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; p. 60.

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.

Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Sala BBK, and Sala de Exposiciones Rekalde, Bilbao, Berriaren Tradizioa: Guggenheim Bildumako Maisu-Lanak, 1945–1990/La tradición de lo nuevo: Obras maestras de la colección Guggenheim, 1945–1990, May 10–July 15, 1995. Catalogue in Basque and Spanish, pp. 120–21 (illus.), 176, 177.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Rendezvous: Masterpieces from the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Guggenheim Museums, October 14, 1998–January 24, 1999. Catalogue (New York: Guggenheim Museum; Paris: Editions du Centre Georges Pompidou, 1998) with essays by Jean-Louis Cohen, Yve-Alain Bois, Mark C. Taylor, Stanley Cavell, Bernard Blistène, and Lisa Dennison; p. 582 (illus., cat. no. 340).

Alloway, Lawrence. “Monumental Art at Cincinnati.” Arts Magazine (New York) 45, no. 2 (November 1970), pp. 32–36.

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. 218 (illus. shows the work at Leo Castelli warehouse, 1970, cat. no. 223).

Donald Judd Skulpturen (exh. booklet). Bern: Kunsthalle Bern, 1976. Introduction by Judd and essays by Enno Develing, Philip Leider, Martin Friedman, and Gianfranco Verna, unpag. (illus. shows the work at Leo Castelli warehouse, 1970).

Knight, Christopher. Art of the Sixties and Seventies, pp. 162 (illus.), 263. Revised and expanded English edition: pp. 202 (illus.), 304. French edition: pp. 162 (illus.), 263. Italian edition: pp. 162 (illus.), 263. Revised and expanded Italian edition: pp. 202 (illus.), 304.

Pincus-Witten, Robert. “Fining It Down: Don Judd at Castelli.” Artforum (New York) 8, no. 10 (June 1970), pp. 47, 48 (illus.), 49.

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