Donald Judd Untitled 90-3 Donaldson 1990 Cor-ten steel and black Plexiglas in six parts. Overall 118 1/8 x 19 1/4 x 9 7/8 in. (300 x 48.9 x 25.1 cm). Each 9 7/8 x 19 1/4 x 9 7/8 in. (25.1 x 48.9 x 25.1 cm.)
Provenance Peter Bonnier Gallery, New York; Sale: Christie’s, New York, Post -War And Contemporary Art Afternoon Session, May 14, 2008, lot 382; Acquired from the above by the present owner Catalogue Essay It isn’t necessary for a work to have a lot of things to look at, to compare, to analyze one by one, to contemplate. The thing as a whole, its quality as a whole, is what is interesting. The main things are alone and are more intense, clear and powerful. They are not diluted by an inherited format, variations of a form, mild contrasts and connecting parts and areas. DONALD JUDD (Donald Judd in N. Serota, ed., Donald Judd London, 2004) “Cor-ten steel introduced a brown color with a velvety surface into Judd’s palette, which inspired him to explore new territory and to create works that, in contrast to the metals used hitherto, absorb rather than radiate light. Corten has an evenly matt, slightly grainy surface in a warm mid-brown. Judd perceived it more as a color than as a material — unlike galvanized iron or aluminum, for instance — and it was this quality that stimulated his sense of color and led him to produce single and multi-part works that revolve around the color of Cor-ten.” (N. Serota, Donald Judd London, 2004, p. 241). In Untitled (Donaldson 90-3) Donald Judd has chosen to render his signature stack in the weathered steel of Cor-ten, pitting it against starkly contrasting black Plexiglas. In doing so, he lends his piece a defined material duality to the vertical composition. The six separate boxes arranged in a parallel scheme stands nearly ten feet tall before the viewer. As one peers into each of the separate boxes, they see a dark background, from the effect of the Plexiglass, surrounded by two attached, open-ended Cor-ten cubes. By instituting this material variation in the three-dimensional work, one’s appreciation expands from delighting in Judd’s spatial play to admiring the widening format in which the spatial play manifests itself. Judd’s piece becomes, then, not only a study of the interaction of materials and the space that they create or destroy, but of the impact of the very crucial element of light and reflection. The non-reflective and light absorbent surface of Cor-ten seems to allow delineate an entry into the separate units. Judd’s piece can be seen as an exploration of both positive and negative space as the distance between the units creates a daunting illusion of limitlessness, extending the regular visual form of Brancusi’s Endless Column. As he stated in reference to the articulation of space, “Space is made by an artist or architect; it is not found and packaged. It is made by thought” (Judd, “Some Aspects of Color in General and Red and Black in Particular,” p. 145). If it is Judd’s mind that has created the spaces we see before us, it is our own that lends them their particular infinity. The current lot, and those in its form that both predate and follow it, bore Judd’s label of “specific object”. By this term, Judd supposed them independent of both painting and sculpture. As a separate artistic project, they carry with them incredible conceptual weight; their mission is not only to demonstrate and exhibit, but also to imply and suggest as well. Here, in Untitled (Donaldson 90-3), we see this conceptual weight in both medium and form, the one deceptively simple and the other seemingly boundless. Read More Artist Bio Donald Judd American • 1928 - 1994 Donald Judd was an American artist known for large-scale minimalistic sculptures, which he personally referred to as "specific objects." Though associated with Minimalism, Judd did not wish to be confined to this categorization and felt that his work was more complex. He utilized industrial materials and demonstrated the way in which they interacted with their surroundings, an effect he felt was more powerful than flat oil on canvas. Judd was more interested in the spacing of his pieces and the way viewers would interpret them than the impo
Donald Judd Untitled 90-3 Donaldson 1990 Cor-ten steel and black Plexiglas in six parts. Overall 118 1/8 x 19 1/4 x 9 7/8 in. (300 x 48.9 x 25.1 cm). Each 9 7/8 x 19 1/4 x 9 7/8 in. (25.1 x 48.9 x 25.1 cm.)
Provenance Peter Bonnier Gallery, New York; Sale: Christie’s, New York, Post -War And Contemporary Art Afternoon Session, May 14, 2008, lot 382; Acquired from the above by the present owner Catalogue Essay It isn’t necessary for a work to have a lot of things to look at, to compare, to analyze one by one, to contemplate. The thing as a whole, its quality as a whole, is what is interesting. The main things are alone and are more intense, clear and powerful. They are not diluted by an inherited format, variations of a form, mild contrasts and connecting parts and areas. DONALD JUDD (Donald Judd in N. Serota, ed., Donald Judd London, 2004) “Cor-ten steel introduced a brown color with a velvety surface into Judd’s palette, which inspired him to explore new territory and to create works that, in contrast to the metals used hitherto, absorb rather than radiate light. Corten has an evenly matt, slightly grainy surface in a warm mid-brown. Judd perceived it more as a color than as a material — unlike galvanized iron or aluminum, for instance — and it was this quality that stimulated his sense of color and led him to produce single and multi-part works that revolve around the color of Cor-ten.” (N. Serota, Donald Judd London, 2004, p. 241). In Untitled (Donaldson 90-3) Donald Judd has chosen to render his signature stack in the weathered steel of Cor-ten, pitting it against starkly contrasting black Plexiglas. In doing so, he lends his piece a defined material duality to the vertical composition. The six separate boxes arranged in a parallel scheme stands nearly ten feet tall before the viewer. As one peers into each of the separate boxes, they see a dark background, from the effect of the Plexiglass, surrounded by two attached, open-ended Cor-ten cubes. By instituting this material variation in the three-dimensional work, one’s appreciation expands from delighting in Judd’s spatial play to admiring the widening format in which the spatial play manifests itself. Judd’s piece becomes, then, not only a study of the interaction of materials and the space that they create or destroy, but of the impact of the very crucial element of light and reflection. The non-reflective and light absorbent surface of Cor-ten seems to allow delineate an entry into the separate units. Judd’s piece can be seen as an exploration of both positive and negative space as the distance between the units creates a daunting illusion of limitlessness, extending the regular visual form of Brancusi’s Endless Column. As he stated in reference to the articulation of space, “Space is made by an artist or architect; it is not found and packaged. It is made by thought” (Judd, “Some Aspects of Color in General and Red and Black in Particular,” p. 145). If it is Judd’s mind that has created the spaces we see before us, it is our own that lends them their particular infinity. The current lot, and those in its form that both predate and follow it, bore Judd’s label of “specific object”. By this term, Judd supposed them independent of both painting and sculpture. As a separate artistic project, they carry with them incredible conceptual weight; their mission is not only to demonstrate and exhibit, but also to imply and suggest as well. Here, in Untitled (Donaldson 90-3), we see this conceptual weight in both medium and form, the one deceptively simple and the other seemingly boundless. Read More Artist Bio Donald Judd American • 1928 - 1994 Donald Judd was an American artist known for large-scale minimalistic sculptures, which he personally referred to as "specific objects." Though associated with Minimalism, Judd did not wish to be confined to this categorization and felt that his work was more complex. He utilized industrial materials and demonstrated the way in which they interacted with their surroundings, an effect he felt was more powerful than flat oil on canvas. Judd was more interested in the spacing of his pieces and the way viewers would interpret them than the impo
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
