DONALD JUDD (1924-1994)
Untitled
green lacquer on galvanized iron
5 x 25 1/2 x 8 1/2 in (12.7 x 64.8 x 21.6 cm)
Executed in 1968 (lacquer applied in 1972). Three works were made in this form, material and configuration
Footnotes:
Provenance
Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris.
Didier Guichard Collection, Saint Etienne.
Jan-Eric Löwenadler, Stockholm.
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1976.

Literature
B. Smith, Donald Judd: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Objects and Wood-Blocks 1960-1974, Ottawa, 1975, no. 135 (illustrated p. 173).


'Art is made as one lives. It must be as decisive as acts in life, hopefully more so, and is made despite the same acknowledged ignorance. But the assertions of art depend on more organization and attention than is usual in living. The force of it depends upon the long process. The construction, the development, and the many decisions are necessary so that it be clear and strong.'
- Donald Judd

Simplicity is as deceiving as it is elegant. Donald Judd's Untitled (DSS 135) appeals to our hard-wired aesthetic sense that ignites with the work's geometric seamlessness and structural essentialism. This sublimated humanity is precisely what makes Minimalism one of the most compelling fields of post-war art, and Judd its sovereign. Formed in galvanized iron and finished in a rich green metal flake enamel, the curvilinearity of the present work's 'bull nose' edges and the solidity of the form give rise to a new kind of shape. In 1967 Judd wrote, 'the main virtue of geometric shapes is that they aren't organic, as all art otherwise is. A form that's neither geometric nor organic would be a great discovery' (quoted in L. Lippard, 'Homage to the Square,' Art in America, July/August 1967, p. 56). In Untitled (DSS 135), we glimpse the depths of Judd's artistic pursuit. His work navigates not only the specificity of the object and the problems of sculpted forms, but he taps into the nature of systems and the visual experience. It is a serene example of great Minimalist sculpture, that reshaped the discourse of post-war practice, and marks the final act of Modern Art.

Born in 1928 in Missouri, Judd served in the United States Army in Korea between June 1946 and November 1947. Upon his return to the United States, he studied philosophy and art history at Columbia University and painting at the Art Students League in New York. A painter and art critic through his 20s, it was not until the early 1960s that he pivoted to sculpture, rebuffing the angular, planar restraints of canvas painting. Judd's shift, moving in step with the likes of Tony Smith, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, and Richard Serra, aligned him with the avant-garde of the period. Championed most prominently by Rosalind Krauss, whose volume 'Passages in Modern Sculpture' (1977) is the definitive text on Minimalism and Land Art, the movement had all but extinguished the ruling Abstract Expressionist ideology by the mid-1960s and was in turn the toast of New York's SoHo scene, notably promoted by the preeminent dealer of the time, Leo Castelli.

From this formative phase of Judd's mature career, executed in 1968-1972, Untitled (DSS 135) is an example of what his studio referred to as 'progressions.' To determine the compositional and proportional relationships of the work, their construction was based on mathematical sequences, and often finished in Harley-Davidson lacquers and paints. The present work, wall-mounted and finished in a spangled emerald green, wonderfully demonstrates how the choices and principles of Judd's working process allowed him to navigate the pitfalls of classicism and western art. 'My stuff is just a little progression, like adding up the grocery bill,' Judd commented, 'there's no mathematical mystique to it' (quoted in G. Glueck, 'Art Notes: A Box is a Box is a Box,' New York Times, March 10, 1968, D23). Avoiding the notion of universal order or general statements, for Judd the construction of his sculpture had more in common with the quotidian than phenomena. Like the intervals on a crosswalk, the perception of the unified visual system was more important than the system itself; he emphasized the rationalization of the form above all else.