Donald Judd

Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
Michael Stich, Germany
Sotheby's, London, June 22, 2006, lot 412
Private Collection, Taipei
Ben Brown Fine Arts, London
Acquired by present owner form the above in 2007

Hannover, Sprengel Museum; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Donald Judd: Farbe, January - June 2000, p. 87, illustrated
Madrid, Galería Elvira González, Arte Minimal: Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Robert Mangold and Sol LeWitt, January - March 2007

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. Under very close inspection and raking light there is a variation in tone to the aluminum on the top of the work, 4 inches from the left edge and 2 ¾ inches from the front edge. Also under very close inspection and under raking light, two very faint and unobtrusive scratches at the top right corner of the outer right panel are visible.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Restrained, exquisite, delicately lyrical and precise, Donald Judd’s Untitled (91-38 Menziken) transcends the conventional field of sculpture, being what the artist would dogmatically term a 'specific object,' a structure that demands to be beheld on its own terms without allusion to any extraneous, illusory or symbolic 'other.' With pristine, equanimous geometry and an effulgent gleam of red, black and aluminum grey, the present work’s insistent presence alone delivers the immensity of its aesthetic.

Riffing on the muted, often monochromatic abstract works that proliferated the global art scene in the 1960s from the likes of Enrico Castellani, Larry Bell, Frank Stella, Ken Price and Yayoi Kusama, Donald Judd developed this burgeoning formal language into a wholly new vocabulary, going beyond the remit and limitations of the canvas, even rejecting traditional practices altogether: “Three dimensions are real space. That gets rid of the problem of illusionism and of literal space...which is riddance of one of the salient and most objectionable relics of European art…A work can be as powerful as it can be thought to be. Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface” (Donald Judd, Specific Objects, 1964, online resource). Subsequently, and supplemented by his persuasive aesthetic treatise ‘Specific Objects,’ Judd established a praxis based on form, space and structure that inspired a generation of both artists and designers and is commonly regarded as fundamentally influential on the field of Minimalism.

The glossy red and black Plexiglas in Untitled (91-38 Menziken) gracefully reflects light from the work’s ambient setting, allowing it to capture the likeness of passing objects within its enclosed aluminum walls, and transform them into smooth blurry depictions dissolved in the pure color of the constituent industrial materials. The interaction with environment is a subtle yet significant aspect of Judd’s oeuvre, allowing works, such as the present one, to delicately allude to the representative illusionism found in traditional sculpture and painting whilst concurrently being a self-sufficient, specific and real object that can be wholly defined in terms of its form and space. This nuance of Judd’s work emphasizes not only the possibilities contained within three dimensional works, but also in the adoption of new materials and production techniques that have been so revolutionary in his praxis. At its very core, Untitled (91-38 Menziken) is an honest manifestation of Judd’s aesthetic interests and truly reflects his convictions that “A simple box is really a complicated thing” (Richard Cork, ‘Box of Delights,’ New Statesman, February 23, 2004, online resource).