Untitled
Date1967
Maker
Donald Judd
American, 1928 - 1994
Label TextDonald Judd called his work "Specific Objects," not painting or sculpture-categories he rejected as outmoded. Commercially fabricated from industrial materials, these works eliminate obvious associations between the artist and maker, and call attention to themselves as objects that occupy the viewer's space. Judd imposed rational constraints on his work, and used mathematics to generate the composition of works such as Untitled, whose rigorous beauty exceeds the limits of Judd's definitions.
Untitled, 1967, is a prime example of Donald Judd's "specific objects," a description coined by the artist for a category of artwork that sought to clearly express its materials, component parts and composition. Here the hand of the artist has disappeared from the physical surface of the object, where industrial materials and surfaces rule and mathematics guide the final order of its elements.
Despite its sleek and abstract appearance, Untitled is reminiscent of classical friezes in its sense of balance and proportion and its play of solids and voids. The use of color creates distinct relationships within the proportioned structure of the work. A sense of movement is suggested by the steady presence of the uninterrupted bronze bar at the top, which contrasts with the staccato rhythm of the opaque red boxes on the bottom.
Despite its sleek and abstract appearance, Untitled is reminiscent of classical friezes in its sense of balance and proportion and its play of solids and voids. The use of color creates distinct relationships within the proportioned structure of the work. A sense of movement is suggested by the steady presence of the uninterrupted bronze bar at the top, which contrasts with the staccato rhythm of the opaque red boxes on the bottom.
Object number2000.190
Provenance[Leo Castelli Gallery, New York]; collection of Anne Gerber; gift to the Seattle Art Museum, December 14, 2000
Photo CreditPhoto: Susan Cole
I am not interested in the kind of expression that you have when you paint a painting with brush strokes… it's already done and I want to do something new.
Donald Judd, interview conducted by Bruce Hooton, February 3, 1965
Credit LineGift of Anne Gerber
Dimensions6 1/4 x 111 x 6 in. (15.9 x 281.9 x 15.2 cm)
MediumPainted steel boxes with brass tube
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