Donald Judd

This pioneering book, the first monograph devoted to Donald Judd, addresses the whole breadth of Juddand#8217;s practices. Drawing on documents found in nearly twenty archives, David Raskin explains why some of Juddand#8217;s works of art seem startlingly ephemeral while others remain insistently physical. In the process of answering this previously perplexing question, Raskin traces Juddand#8217;s principles from his beginnings as an art critic through his fabulous installations and designs in Marfa, Texas. He discusses Juddand#8217;s early important paintings and idiosyncratic red objects, as well as the three-dimensional works that are celebrated throughout the world. He also examines Juddand#8217;s commitment to empirical values and his political activism, and concludes by considering the importance of Juddand#8217;s example for recent art.

Ultimately, Raskin develops a picture of Judd as never before seen: he shows us an artist who asserted his individuality with spare designs; who found spiritual values in plywood, Plexiglas, and industrial production; who refused to distinguish between thinking and feeling while asserting that science marked the limits of knowledge; who claimed that his art provided intuitions of morality but not a specific set of tenets; and who worked for political causes that were neither left nor right.

"Raskin's monograph is a dense critical commentary on an artist whose work is due for precisely this kind of revisiting."and#8212;G. R. Brown, CHOICE

"The book explores Judd's history, politics, and biography in a way that is both fascinating and dense, approachable and abstractand#8212;echoing the strangely affecting nature of the work itself."and#160;and#8212;Cindy Widner, Austin Chronicle

"[A] must-have. . . . Remarkably, the first major monograph devoted to Judd."and#8212;Dyal Blog

and#8220;Referencing Juddand#8217;s writings, interviews, and works as well as those of many art critics, philosophers, scholars, and artists, this generously illustrated book (60 color and 80 monochrome reproductions) featuring creations by Judd and many contemporary artists is well documented, nicely presented, and intellectually stimulating.and#8221;and#8212;Library Journal

andldquo;With this elegant book, Juddandrsquo;s multicolored works receive the thoughtful attention and recognition they deserve.andrdquo;andmdash;Publishers Weekly

David Raskin is professor of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.