Reviews (1)

graphic tome
This is a thorough little book depicting the progression or regression of Judd's graphically stunning woodblock prints. There are also some nice photograph's of galleries and studios at his epicenter, Marfa, TX. Also included is a too short essay by Judd on symmetry. It's not a trip to Marfa, but if you like Donald Judd you should have this book. ... Read more

Book Description

One of the most influential American artists of the post-war period, Donald Judd changed the course of modern sculpture. Beginning as an art critic and then a painter, Judd moved into three dimensions with the box-like structures he produced in the early 1960s, either arranged on the gallery floor or mounted on the wall. Initially constructed by hand, the sculptures were later industrially manufactured in galvanized iron, steel, plexiglass, and plywood. His use of vibrant color, polished and reflective metals, and brightly hued lacquer confounded and continues to confound expectations of what "minimalist" sculpture should look like.
This lavishly illustrated survey features 41 works from collections around the world, many of them large scale, each illustrated with full catalogue entries alongside many other major works by Judd. Contributors Nicholas Serota (Director of the Tate), Rudi Fuchs (former Director of The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam), American critics Richard Schiff and David Raskin, and British artist and critic David Batchelor explore the conflicts between previous critical interpretations of Judd and his own philosophical, political, and moral understanding of his work. Judd's critical response to the work of other artists is examined, as is the importance of color to his work, and his reaction to new man-made materials and artificially generated color in the late-20th-century environment. A section on Judd's installations at Marfa in Texas, and an extensive new chronology, compiled by Judd's assistant, Jeff Kopie, are also included. Donald Judd compromises the most thorough and up-to-date publication on Judd in print today.

Essays by Rudi Fuchs, David Batchelor, John Jervis, Richard Schiff, Nicholas Serota and David Raskin.

Hardcover, 9.5 x 12.25 in./288 pgs / 100 color and 30 b & w. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The One to Have
If you only buy one Donald Judd book in your lifetime, this may be the one to have. Beautifully designed and produced, with gorgeous full-bleed color reproductions, it is comprehensive in covering all the major aspects of his production (prints possibly excepted), including early paintings, the transition to sculpture, the late work, and the work on major art environments, i.e. Marfa and Spring Street. Most effectively, it groups major aspects of Judd's work into categories (stacks, linear wall pieces, series of boxes, etc.) clearly laying out his initial concepts, their evolution over time, and their relationships to other categories of work. In my brief time with this book, I have already come away with a much greater understanding of Judd's oeuvre and ways of thinking, thanks largely to the wonderfully didactic quality of the entire enterprise. I am assuming Nicolas Serota, the director of the Tate Modern and the book's editor, is largely responsible for this. Of the several intriguing essays, I have only thoroughly read the one by David Batchelor, a British Judd-ologist who addresses the issue of color. It alone is worth the price of the book, tracing aspects of the work back to initially wan late-nineteenth century attempts at the artistic representation of machinery, and then bringing us forward to Judd's thorough (albeit fascinatingly undocumented) familiarity with the technology and varieties of contemporary car paints (apparently his selection of [always impure] colors referenced specific automobiles, i.e. 1958 Ford Galaxy Celeste Green). The essay is full of wonderful observations such as Batchelor's equation of traditional brushes with organic nature, actual embodiments of their classical subject matter, that had to ultimately be abandoned by Judd (and of course others) in his search for artistic tools reflective of mechanization and urban modernity. Furthermore, Batchelor illustrates how the tools may have changed but Judd's concern with color, texture, and composition remained rooted in art-historical and even painterly considerations. Judd vehemently rejected the minimalist label, such label in Batchelor's view having contributed to critics' failure to recognize the sophisticated color and sensuality of the works. And finally, we are led to consider how the works may be as much about problems of painting and even (gasp) allusion and representation as about problems of sculpture. Great stuff. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

judd rocks
i bought this book cause i didnt really know anything about donald judds work. he had been mentioned to me at school, and after getting this book i am blown away by judds works. this book is filled with incredible pictures of his sculpture, if you ever get the chance, go see this stuff in real life, its even more amazing !

review of Donald Judd Colorist
A book which offers an exploration of an often neglected aspect of Judd's oeuvre, this series of essays questions the long-standing acceptance of critical writing regarding Judd's work in particular and Minimalism in general. Expanding his role as more than a strict formalist, these writers portray Judd as a sensualist and illusionist. Pointing out Judd's beginnings as a painter, and Judd's own pronouncements that he considers himself to be a painter, the collection of essays denies the limited definition of Judd's work offered by most critical writing as strictly formal, anti-illusionist, geometric, repetitious, and industrial in manufacture and material. Instead, these writers note the highly reflective surfaces of brass or aluminum Judd employs to effectively dissolve the forms themselves through their multiple reflections of adjacent surfaces.

Judd's use of color is emphasized through comparisons with the late career pasted papers of Matisse. The concept is offered that when Judd cuts the colored plexiglass so often incorporated in his work, he is literally cutting color the way Matisse did his colored paper cut-outs. Many of Judd's box sculptures utilize reflected color from the translucent plexiglass that often gives the smooth metal surfaces the illusion of being painted.

Fittingly, Judd himself is given the final word. In his essay "Some aspects of color in general and red and black in particular" (1993), Judd discusses in introductory terms his obviously complex color theories, influenced by years of research into the writings of theorists and other artists. Interestingly enough, Judd spends a good deal of time discussing his use of space, which he claims as largely uncharted territory, except in his own work. This focus on the spatial aspect of Judd's work is somewhat at odds with the other essayist's insistence on color as a dominant feature of Judd's oeuvre.

Judd reveals his concept of red and black as a two-color monochrome, and other ideas of how colors and values may be thought of in pairs. Judd states that he had difficult decisions to make for his late polychrome objects, as he wanted the color combinations to be neither harmonious nor disharmonious, but rather have them all "present at once."

If colour is the Question ?
Donald Judd has always showed colors in a different perspective, using canvas that you can almost smell, touch and fall in love with These book its a master piece that will make all your sences explode. ... Read more

Book Description

One of the leading representatives of Minimalism, Donald Judd's "specific objects," made of steel, wood, aluminum, and Plexiglass, undertook a radical and revolutionary analysis and redefinition of sculpture as it exists in space. Somewhat less familiar are Judd's numerous architectural and furniture designs, works which are closely related in formal terms to his ubiquitous art objects but which much more successfully reflect his concerns with utility. To best understand this aspect of Judd's work, a visit to Marfa, Texas is in order. In 1971, Judd bought an old fort near this small town; by systematically acquiring and transforming more and more local property, he amassed the largest ensemble of contemporary art in the world, with permanent installations of his own work and that of Carl Andre, John Chamberlan, Dan Flavin, and others. "Donald Judd: Architecture" presents drawings, design sketches, ground plans, and photographs of the grounds and architecture of this Minimalist desert oasis, and bears witness to Judd's role as the visionary architect and stage director of his own oeuvre.This book first appeared in 1991, in German. It has been thoroughly revised and expanded for this, its first English edition. "Art and architecture--all the arts--do not have to exist in isolation, as they do now. This fault is very much a key to the present society. Architecture is nearly gone, but it, art, all the arts, in fact all parts of the society, have to be rejoined, and joined more than they have ever been. This would be democratic in a good sense, unlike the present increasing fragmentation into separate but equal categories." --Donald Judd
Edited by Peter Noever, of MAK, Vienna. Essays by Donald Judd, Rudi Fuchs, Brigitte Huck.

8.75 x 11.5 in.
25 color, 84 b/w illustrations
English/German ... Read more

Book Description

Like no other sculptor today, Donald Judd has informed our understanding of art and its relationship to space. The Panoramas Gallery organized his first solo exhibition in 1957, at a time in which he was still focused on painting, yet moving from the flat picture plane towards the third dimension. His cadmium red pictures cut through with stripes or incisions led the viewer to perceive space as self-evident. From there Judd moved toward a complete abandonment of painting, recognizing, in the early 60s, that "actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface." His switch from painting to sculpture was coincident with a growing interest in architecture and in industrial processes and materials, such as galvanized steel, concrete, plywood, and aluminum, which he used to create large, hollow, Minimalist sculptures. Documented here for the first time is this very crucial development, from the early work of the 1950s to 1968, the point at which Judd's artistic vocabulary reached its complete formation.
Numerous works, including previously unrecorded paintings, sculptures, sketches, and works on paper, appear here alongside unpublished documents and texts by Judd himself.

Any combining, mixing, adding, diluting, exploiting, vulgarizing, or popularizing of abstract art deprives art of its essence and depraves the artist's artistic consciousness. Art is free, but it is not a free-for-all. --Donald Judd, 1965

Edited and with an essay by Thomas Kellein. Texts by Donald Judd.

Hardcover, 184 pages, 80 color ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Statesman (1996), published by New Statesman, Ltd. on February 23, 2004. The length of the article is 1021 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Box of delights: Richard Cork follows Donald Judd's quest to purge sculpture of elaboration.(Art)
Author: Richard Cork
Publication: New Statesman (1996) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 23, 2004
Publisher: New Statesman, Ltd.
Volume: 133Issue: 4676Page: 42(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Artforum International, published by Artforum International Magazine, Inc. on May 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1101 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: "Donald Judd: Early Work 1955-1968"; Menil Collection, Houston. (Reviews).
Author: Lane Relyea
Publication: Artforum International (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2003
Publisher: Artforum International Magazine, Inc.
Volume: 41Issue: 9Page: 164(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Discourse (Detroit, MI), published by Wayne State University Press on March 22, 2002. The length of the article is 11987 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Conceptual work and conceptual waste.
Author: Blake Stimson
Publication: Discourse (Detroit, MI) (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2002
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Volume: 24Issue: 2Page: 121(31)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more