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JUDD

The Museum of Modern Art
Donald Judd. Untitled. 1970. Purple lacquer on aluminum and cadmium
red light enamel on cold-rolled steel, 8 1/4 × 161 × 8” (21 × 408.9 × 20.3
cm). Kunstmuseum Basel © 2020 Judd Foundation / Artists Rights Society
The Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition Judd, on view in the (ARS), New York
Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions
in the David and Peggy Rockefeller Building from March
“MoMA’s presentation covers the full arc of his career,
1 through July 11, 2020, is the first major US retrospective
aiming to reveal its largely unexpected variety and complexity.”
dedicated to the work of Donald Judd (1928–1994) in over three
decades. Presented solely at MoMA, the exhibition explores
“We commend the leadership of MoMA, Ann Temkin, and
the remarkable vision of an artist who revolutionized the
her team for their in-depth research and their substantial
history of sculpture, highlighting the full scope of Judd’s career
commitment toward this significant exhibition. Don’s work
through 70 works in sculpture, painting, drawing, and prints,
remains as vital today as it was when he created it. We
from public and private collections in the US and abroad. Judd
appreciate MoMA providing the opportunity for a new
is organized by Ann Temkin, The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis
generation to engage with his work in New York,” said Rainer
Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, with Yasmil Raymond,
Judd, President, Judd Foundation.
former Associate Curator; Tamar Margalit, Curatorial Assistant;
and Erica Cooke, Research Fellow, Department of Painting and
The exhibition begins with a wide selection of paintings, objects,
Sculpture, MoMA.
drawings, and prints from the early 1960s, bringing the viewer
along on the step-by-step journey that led from paintings to
Donald Judd was among a generation of artists in the 1960s
works that were fully three-dimensional. In the mid-1960s,
who sought to entirely do away with illusion, narrative, and
Judd created a fundamental vocabulary of works in three
metaphorical content. He turned to three dimensions as well as
dimensions, including hollow boxes, stacks, and progressions
industrial working methods and materials in order to investigate
made with metals and plastics by commercial fabricators. These
“real space,” by his definition.
are represented with the inclusion of their early - or even first -
manifestations as well as significant ideas that were carried out
“Half a century after Judd established himself as a leading figure
in a few pieces and then laid aside. The 1970s gallery presents
of his time, there remains a great deal to discover,” said Temkin.
important changes to the work that in part reflect that Judd
was re-centering his practice in Marfa, Texas, and working on
Donald Judd. Untitled. 1976–77. Stainless steel, Twenty-one units, each 4 site-specific pieces elsewhere. His experimentation extended
× 27 × 23” (10.2 × 68.6 × 58.4 cm), with 13.5″ (34.3 cm) intervals. Overall: to new levels of scale and types of structure, as well as to the
4 × 108 × 230” (10.2 × 274.3 × 584.2 cm). Collection of the Des Moines
introduction of plywood as a key material. The exhibition’s
Art Center. Purchased with funds from the Coffin Fine Arts Trust; Nathan
Emory Coffin © 2020 Judd Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New final gallery presents the aspect of Judd’s career least familiar
York. Photo: © Rich Sanders to American viewers: the works from his last decade, mostly
fabricated in Europe, whose chromatic and material exuberance
emphatically contradicts the “Minimalist” label that Judd had
always rejected.

Judd’s activity extended far beyond the realm of making works
of art. He was a prolific art critic and essayist, deeply committed
to democratic and environmental causes, and active in the
fields of architecture and design. A “reading room” outside the
exhibition entrance will feature Judd-designed furniture. Visitors
will be invited to use the furniture and browse the exhibition
catalogue, several key books on Judd’s work, and the artist’s
own writings.

22 WORLD of ART