Donald Judd

Donald Judd (1928-1994), American sculptor, known for his minimalist (simple in form) works, typically made of metal. His interest in empiricism, a philosophy that asserts that all knowledge is based on experience alone, can be seen in his sculptures. He has written several articles about art, including “Specific Objects” (1965), which discusses the theoretical basis of his work.

Born in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, Judd earned degrees in philosophy and art history from Columbia University. He began painting in the early 1950s, and in the 1960s he began creating sculptures. Along with a group of artists interested in the principles of empiricism, Judd began making art that did not create any illusion or symbolize anything outside itself, such as the psychological or emotional state of the artist. The work of Judd and his fellow minimalists—or empiricists, as Judd preferred—was also in part a reaction against the abstract expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s, which sought to represent spontaneity and the individuality of the artist (see Abstract Expressionism).

Judd worked in a variety of materials, including steel, plywood, Plexiglas, and aluminum and other polished metals. He sometimes spray-painted surfaces, using motorcycle enamel to give his sculptures a bright, glossy finish that accentuated their clear form. Since he was not interested in connecting his art to himself as an individual artist, he, like other minimalists, began designing his works and having them made by skilled craftspeople. These works were frequently composed of repeated objects, usually simple, geometric forms. In Untitled (1968, Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin), for example, six identical box shapes of stainless steel and amber-colored Plexiglas are cantilevered from the wall at regular intervals. The work is precisely constructed and lacks any sign of the artist's individual personality. In 1979 Judd established an art foundation and began showing his own work and that of others in a complex of buildings that he designed in Marfa, Texas.