Edited by Ann Temkin, 2020
BOOK
Judd is the catalogue published to accompany the retrospective of Donald Judd held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2020, the first major exhibition of his work in the United States in over three decades. Edited by Ann Temkin, Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at MoMA, the book offers a comprehensive resource for understanding an artist who reshaped the language of contemporary sculpture.
Combining extensive visual documentation with essays based on previously unpublished archival material—much of it drawn from the Judd Foundation—the volume traces the full arc of the artist’s career, from his early paintings and reliefs of the 1960s to the metal and plexiglass constructions that came to define his practice. Boxes, progressions, stacks: elemental forms that reject narrative and metaphor in favor of a direct engagement with real space.
A section of the catalogue is also devoted to Judd’s work in design and architecture. His furniture, tables, chairs, beds, proposes the same structural precision and sensitivity to proportion and material, while remaining autonomous in purpose. Judd reveals the complexity of this approach, showing how the artist’s spatial thinking extends beyond sculpture into the realm of functional objects.
Donald Judd
Donald Judd (Excelsior Springs, 1928 – New York, 1994) was a central figure in American Minimalism, known for redefining the relationship between sculpture, space, and perception.
In the 1960s, he abandoned painting to focus on three-dimensional structures made with industrial materials and serial production methods. In 1973, he began designing furniture for his home in Marfa, initiating a body of work that remained distinct from his art yet consistent with his formal vocabulary. In his 1993 essay It’s Hard to Find a Good Lamp, he asserted a clear distinction between art and design, while applying the same rigor to both.
The major retrospective at MoMA in 2020 captured the full scope of his practice, including this lesser-known but essential aspect of his work.
Why this book is interesting
The book offers a thorough account of Donald Judd’s work, following its development from early paintings to his iconic three-dimensional structures and large-scale spatial interventions.
Rather than limiting itself to the more familiar chapters of his career, it examines areas that have received less attention, including the connections between art, architecture, and design.
Two essays in particular, On the Judd Scale …furniture, architecture… and Swiss Made: Judd’s Late Work, provide a clear reading of Judd’s engagement with furniture and architecture. The former focuses on his spatial thinking, while the latter considers his collaboration with Swiss company Lehni AG for the use of aluminium in his work.
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Details
Museum of Modern Art
Hardcover, 304 pages
978-1633450325
