唐納德·賈德

Barbara Guggenheim Associates Inc., New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in January 1988

In Donald Judd’s extraordinary Untitled from 1986, anodized aluminum becomes subservient to the tenets of a mathematical formula, in order to avoid subjective qualities of expression. Space and coloration open up an entirely new artistic vision. The central subject of Judd's life-long practice is situated here, in a glorious statement in which "color and three-dimensional space are one." (Judd quoted in Exh. Cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Donald Judd, 1989, p. 111)

Elaborating on his rounded, bullnose progressions first formulated in 1964, themselves an evolution of another earlier example of a bisected iron pipe set into 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 equaling 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 form. Utilizing a regular mathematical formulation, Judd was able to communicate an entirely abstract concept into form, and in so doing, manifest it as a sort of material unto itself. 

Judd's realization that space is not discovered or identified, but rather "made by thought," catalyzed 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 here creates a visually compelling work derived from a given arithmetical sequence, exemplifying his deployment of geometry and mathematics as readymades. Furthermore, conflating rigorous geometric design and an a priori determined mathematical system, Untitled simultaneously conveys the artist's commitment to spectacular coloration. Asserting its materiality and conceptual rigor, Untitled evinces a chromatic resonance in its lustrous surfaces and embedded coloration. Catching light by its dazzling anodized aluminum bars, Untitled harnesses the chromatic spectrum to impact the full force of Judd’s fascination with interpreting the world through color, as he said, "It's best to consider everything as color." (Judd in Exh. Cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Donald Judd, 1989, p. 94)