Book Detail
Art and Photography
Donald Judd: Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings, Objects, and Wood-Blocks, 1960-1974
Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1975.
4to; illustrated throughout in b&w; orange endpapers; orange wrappers printed in black. Near fine.
First edition. Donald Judd listed the qualities he thought were characteristic of his work: a non-European look; three dimensions; unmodulated color; new materials; and “singleness.” In one of his fundamental statements, the essay “Specific Objects” Judd explained that his work is in no way minimal, reductive, “anti-art,” “ABC art,” or any of the other terms that had been applied to it:
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.
This iconic publication is a record of an exhibition and a catalogue raisonné documenting 355 paintings, objects, and wood-blocks created between 1960 and 1974 but is also a sculptural object that was designed by Judd and fabricated to his specifications in much the same way as the rest of his work. With its bright orange wrappers, spare look and perfectly proportioned typeface it is the embodiment of Judd’s aesthetic, as “clear and powerful” as anything he made.
$3,500
