Donald Judd

Laurence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia (acquired directly from the artist)
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1987

In order to minimize traces of hierarchical decision-making in his early work, Donald Judd began to employ numeric systems as structures for his “specific objects.” In 1964 Judd created his first progressions. Untitled is a perfect example of how Judd remained committed to the progression form, to perfecting it and finding variations within it throughout his career. It is based, like it’s 1964 prototype, on the Fibonacci sequence: the clear aluminum segments get bigger as they progress from right to left and their volumes are progressively added together to create the next form in the sequence. The negative spaces between the solid forms illustrate the same formula from left to right.

Long considered the most important artist of his generation, Judd, along with his minimalist peers, strove to create present and material objects: to eliminate illusion and allusion from his work. Untitled certainly makes the case for an alternative position on Judd’s work: the luster of the work’s surface dematerializes its form, the way it is hung suggests weightlessness, and the color lavender has many atmospheric and ephemeral associations. It is in considering these aesthetic decisions, which were not predetermined by mathematical formulae, that one is able to appreciate the complexity and contradiction of Judd’s vision. In addition to his acute understanding of forms, spaces, and materials, Untitled compels one to recognize the value of Judd’s unique gift for creating pure beauty.