Provenance
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
David Allen Hanks, Chicago
The Estate of Milton Fischmann, St. Louis
Private Collection (by descent from the above)
Christie's, New York, May 12, 2015, lot 158
Private Collection, Europe
Exhibited
Pasadena, California, Pasadena Art Museum, Don Judd, May 11 - July 4, 1971, no. 34, p. 66, plate 25, p. 48 (illustrated)
Literature
Dudley Del Balso, Roberta Smith and Brydon Smith, Donald Judd: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Objects and Wood-Blocks 1960-1974, Ottawa, 1975, no. 107, p. 153 (illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
Untitled from 1967 stretches almost six feet, composed of 10 rectangular elements which protrude at varying intervals from the wall. The projecting elements grow progressively smaller in length from left to right as the corresponding voids between these elements grow larger, giving the composition a balanced arrangement that is characteristic of the works from this series, aptly titled progressions. The mathematical underpinnings of his progressions allowed Judd, “to use an asymmetrical arrangement, yet to have some sort of order not involved in composition.” (Donald Judd quoted in John Coplans, "Interview with Don Judd," Don Judd, exh. cat., Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1971, p. 41) Judd’s first of these wall sculptures was created in 1964, fabricated from wood and painted with a dark red lacquer, measuring only 25 ½ inches in length. Later that year, Judd abandoned wood as the support for his progressions and commissioned the industrial manufacturers, Bernstein Brothers to fabricate, larger, more monumental, pristine metal sculptures, as evident in the present lot.

In his 1965 essay “Specific Objects,” Judd explored the definition of art that is neither painting nor sculpture. Departing from his exploration into abstract painting of the early 1960s, Judd instead decided to pursue a distinct physical surface. By 1961 with the creation of his famous black painting, which holds a small, tin, baking pan in the center (Untitled in the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York), his paintings shifted towards the three dimensional, which he describes “objects in their own right.” This leap away from the tradition of painting led Judd to create objects like Untitled, rendered in his earliest, preferred medium of galvanized iron, the only metal which possesses an intrinsic natural pattern and the same material in which he would later execute his earliest vertical stacks. Coated in a blue lacquer, the natural grain of the iron in Untitled gives the surface an almost dappled effect as the blue paint interacts with the iron’s texture. Indeed, Judd was riveted by color theory, himself owning multiple copies of Josef Albers’ revolutionary publication, Interaction of Color. Seeking colors that highlighted the edges of his work, Judd’s choice of blue lacquer draws an art historical reference to the color and composition of Ad Reinhardt's Blue Paintings for the early 1950s. And yet the format of his progressions, which hold forms that gradually increase as the corresponding voids progressively decrease, allowed Judd an infinite opportunity to alter the length, frontal shape and coloration of his progressions with different colors and surfaces. Untitled is a supreme example from a series which would come to define Judd as the most iconic and innovative sculptor of the 20th century.
Artist Biography
Donald Judd
American • 1928 - 1994
Donald Judd came to critical acclaim in the 1960s with his simple, yet revolutionary, three-dimensional floor and wall objects made from new industrial materials, such as anodized aluminum, plywood and Plexiglas, which had no precedent in the visual arts. His oeuvre is characterized by the central constitutive elements of color, material and space. Rejecting the illusionism of painting and seeking an aesthetic freed from metaphorical associations, Judd sought to explore the relationship between art object, viewer and surrounding space with his so-called "specific objects." From the outset of his three-decade-long career, Judd delegated the fabrication to specialized technicians. Though associated with the minimalist movement, Judd did not wish to confine his practice to this categorization.

Inspired by architecture, the artist also designed and produced his own furniture, predominantly in wood, and eventually hired a diverse team of carpenters late in his career.
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26

Donald Judd

Untitled

blue lacquer on galvanized iron
5 x 69 x 9 in. (12.7 x 175.3 x 22.9 cm.)
Executed in 1967.

Estimate
$1,200,000 - 1,800,000

Sold for $1,174,000

Contact Specialist
Kate Bryan
Head of Evening Sale
New York
+ 1 212 940 1267

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 18 May 2017

1
Nicole Eisenman
Winter Solstice 2012 Dinner Party
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $670,000
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2
David Hammons
African-American Flag
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $2,050,000
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3
Kenneth Noland
Bridge
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
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4
Ellsworth Kelly
Dark Blue Relief
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $3,105,000
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5
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Venus 2000 B.C.)
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,590,000
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6
Roy Lichtenstein
Woman: Sunlight, Moonlight
Estimate On Request
Sold for $10,330,000
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7
Alexander Archipenko
White Torso
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $250,000
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8
Damien Hirst
The Void
Estimate $5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for $5,250,000
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9
Peter Doig
Rosedale
Estimate On Request
Sold for $28,810,000
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10
Marlene Dumas
Colorfields
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $4,170,000
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11
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $3,610,000
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12
Adolph Gottlieb
Shadows
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $1,030,000
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13
Willem de Kooning
Untitled II
Estimate $12,000,000 - 18,000,000
Sold for $13,130,000
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14
Lee Krasner
Gold or Silver
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,690,000
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15
Kazuo Shiraga
T52
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,330,000
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16
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Three Heads)
Estimate $650,000 - 850,000
Sold for $790,000
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17
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,810,000
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18
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $514,000
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19
Ed Ruscha
Cherry
Estimate $700,000 - 900,000
Sold for $898,000
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20
Agnes Martin
Untitled #1
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $3,946,000
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21
Glenn Ligon
Stranger #55
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $874,000
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22
Wolfgang Tillmans
quiet mind
Estimate $70,000 - 100,000
Sold for $322,000
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23
This lot is no longer available.
24
David Hockney
Three Oranges with a Vase
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $1,990,000
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25
John Chamberlain
Untitled
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $730,000
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26
Donald Judd
Untitled
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,174,000
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27
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,030,000
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28No Reserve
Anselm Kiefer
Merkaba
Estimate $600,000 - 900,000 •
Sold for $970,000
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29
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $670,000
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30
Adrian Ghenie
Charles Darwin as a Young Man
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $610,000
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31
Ai Weiwei
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,370,000
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32
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33
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,350,000
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34
Sigmar Polke
Untitled
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $754,000
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35
Richard Prince
Going Going Going
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $1,090,000
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36
Alexander Calder
Two Red Petals in the Air
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,410,000
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37
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38
Marc Chagall
La joie au cirque
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $1,930,000
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39
Jean Hélion
Abstraction
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $514,000
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40
Keith Haring
Keith and Julia
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $970,000
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20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 18 May 2017

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Provenance

Exhibited

Literature

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Donald Judd

26

Donald Judd

Untitled

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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