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The Museum of Modern Art’s Exhibition Judd, on view in the
Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions in the David and Peggy
Rockefeller Building from March 1 through July 11, 2020, is the first major US retrospective
dedicated to the work of Donald Judd (1928–1994) in over three decades. Presented solely
at MoMA, the exhibition explores the remarkable vision of an artist who revolutionized the
history of sculpture, highlighting the full scope of Judd’s career through 70 works in
sculpture, painting, drawing, and prints, from public and private collections in the US and
abroad. Judd is organized by Ann Temkin, The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of
Painting and Sculpture, with Yasmil Raymond, former Associate Curator; Tamar Margalit,
Curatorial Assistant; and Erica Cooke, Research Fellow, Department of Painting and
Sculpture, MoMA.

Donald Judd was among a generation of artists in the 1960s who sought to entirely do away
with illusion, narrative, and metaphorical content. He turned to three dimensions as well as
industrial working methods and materials in order to investigate “real space,” by his definition.
“Half a century after Judd established himself as a leading figure of his time, there remains a
great deal to discover,” said Temkin. “MoMA’s presentation covers the full arc of his career,
aiming to reveal its largely unexpected variety and complexity.”

“We commend the leadership of MoMA, Ann Temkin, and her team for their in-depth research
and their substantial commitment toward this significant exhibition. Don’s work remains as
vital today as it was when he created it. We appreciate MoMA providing the opportunity for a
new generation to engage with his work in New York,” said Rainer Judd, President, Judd
Foundation.

Judd will be the first full-scale introduction to the artist’s career for many viewers (including a
generation born since his last American retrospective in 1988). It will be organized in
chronological order to demonstrate an artistic vision that developed in both methodical and
utterly unpredictable ways.

The exhibition begins with a wide selection of paintings, objects, drawings, and prints from
the early 1960s, bringing the viewer along on the step-by-step journey that led from paintings
to works that were fully three-dimensional. In the mid-1960s, Judd created a fundamental

vocabulary of works in three dimensions, including hollow boxes, stacks, and progressions
made with metals and plastics by commercial fabricators. These are represented with the
inclusion of their early—or even first—manifestations as well as significant ideas that were
carried out in a few pieces and then laid aside. The 1970s gallery presents important changes
to the work that in part reflect that Judd was re-centering his practice in Marfa, Texas, and
working on site-specific pieces elsewhere. His experimentation extended to new levels of
scale and types of structure, as well as to the introduction of plywood as a key material. The
exhibition’s final gallery presents the aspect of Judd’s career least familiar to American
viewers: the works from his last decade, mostly fabricated in Europe, whose chromatic and
material exuberance emphatically contradicts the “Minimalist” label that Judd had always
rejected.

Judd’s activity extended far beyond the realm of making works of art. He was a prolific art
critic and essayist, deeply committed to democratic and environmental causes, and active in
the fields of architecture and design. A “reading room” outside the exhibition entrance will
feature Judd-designed furniture. Visitors will be invited to use the furniture and browse the
exhibition catalogue, several key books on Judd’s work, and the artist’s own writings.
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue that uses newly available
archival materials from the Judd Foundation and elsewhere to expand scholarly perspectives
on Judd’s work. Essays by Ann Temkin, Erica Cooke, Tamar Margalit, Christine Mehring,
James Meyer, Annie Ochmanek, Yasmil Raymond, and Jeffrey Weiss address subjects such as
Judd’s early beginnings in painting, the fabrication of his sculptures, his site-specific pieces,
and his work in design and architecture. Hardcover, $75. ISBN: 978-1-63345-032-5.

Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and available at MoMA stores and online
at store.moma.org. Distributed to the trade through ARTBOOK|D.A.P. in the United States and
Canada, and through Thames & Hudson in the rest of the world.