Donald Judd

The Estate of Donald Judd, New York

Pace Wildenstein, New York

Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles

Mark Moore Fine Art, Los Angeles

Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco

Gallery Seomi, Seoul 

Sotheby’s, London, 25 October 2005, Lot 245 (consigned by the above) 

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Colour: The colour in the catalogue is fairly accurate, although it fails to convey the reflective qualities of the aluminium bar. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals a few tiny specks of white paint to the top of the largest black box and a water mark to the top left of the anodized aluminium bar. Extremely close inspection reveals a few very faint scuffs in isolated places, most notably to the front of the second largest black box and a few nicks to the edges of the aluminium bar.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Astounding in scale and ambition, Untitled from 1989 is undoubtedly one of the most elegant paradigms of Donald Judd’s seminal minimal sculptures. Spanning an impressive four metres in width, the work exudes a sense of commanding power and authority, magnificently dominating its surroundings. It is part of a series of wall-mounted sculptures – known as Progressions – first created in the 1960s using numerical formulas as a way of determining sculptural form. A key figure in what would come to be termed Minimalism (though he himself disdained the expression), Judd eschewed compositional conventions and sought to abandon any evidence of the authorial hand through his deployment of geometry and mathematics as ready-mades.

In the present work a long rectangular upper section of gleaming aluminium supports five black boxes of varying widths. Elaborating on his rounded, bullnose progressions first formulated in 1964, themselves an evolution of another earlier example of a bisected iron pipe set into a floor-bound box, Judd transformed the form from rounded to square and drastically elongated the entire composition. Unlike its predecessor, To Susan Buckwalter, where the forms are all equal sized cubes interspersed by vacant space of about one quarter the size of the face of the cube, Untitled consists of rectangular forms which elegantly grow in inverse relation to their voided space.  Following the Fibonacci sequence, a natural mathematical progression, the volumes of the forms propagate accordingly: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and so forth, with each new space equalling the sum of the previous two. The solid form and empty space alternate and interact according to this mathematical sequence, extending dramatically along the horizontal plane. In designing the form in such a way, Judd transposed the spatial play he had originally conceived of with the pipe on the floor into an altogether new wall-mounted form. Utilising a regular mathematical formulation, Judd was able to translate an entirely abstract concept into form, and in so doing, manifest it as a sort of material unto itself. No longer a void, emptiness becomes instead a positive entity and a key part of the viewer’s perception of the installation. Judd noted the existence of this phenomenon: “If two objects are close together they define the space in between. These definitions are infinite until the two objects are so far apart that the distance in between is no longer space. But then the passerby remembers that one was there and another here. The space between can be even more definite than the two objects which establish it; it can be a single space more than the two objects are a pair” (Donald Judd cited in: Exh. Cat., Hannover, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Donald Judd, Colorist, 2000, p. 80). Untitled celebrates this glorification of empty space, giving equal importance to the space in-between as the box shapes themselves.

In his 1965 treatise Specific Objects, Judd criticised the traditions of Western art and the constraints that he felt these placed on artistic freedom. Although initially trained as a painter, he was frustrated by the traditional concept of a flat rectangular form placed against a wall and the longstanding artistic ambition to replicate the illusion of space on the painted canvas. From the early 1960s he began appropriating industrial materials, such as aluminium, Plexiglas and stainless steel to create rectilinear objects that were imbued with an unyielding presence. With their rectangular linearity they purported the distinct visual vocabulary of the so-called Minimalist artists, which included Agnes Martin, Robert Morris and Dan Flavin. Seeking to move beyond traditional concepts of painting and sculpture, Judd catalysed a new philosophy about objects and their relationship to abutting surfaces, neither propped by pedestals nor encircled by frames. Having famously sought to abandon any evidence of the authorial hand, Judd was one of the first artists to fabricate his works in close collaboration with specialised craftsmen. Bernstein Bros., his metalworking company of choice, worked with Judd on the creation of his metal pieces since 1964. In doing so he pioneered an approach to art making subsequently appropriated by numerous other artists including Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons.

In Donald Judd’s extraordinary Untitled from 1989, anodized aluminium becomes subservient to the tenets of a mathematical formula in order to avoid subjective qualities of expression. Arguably transcending the dictum of ‘art for art’s sake’ in favour of a highly developed investigation into the potentials of form, space and media, Judd brilliantly surpassed the conventional limitations imposed by art historical precedent. The present work represents Judd’s extraordinary ability to move beyond previously inviolable philosophical and creative ideals towards an entirely new visual realm, one that possesses its own unique signification of exquisite beauty.