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Donald Judd's design
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THEORY
Aesthetics is to the artist as ornithology is to the birds
Barnett Newman
Although Donald Judd is a Columbia graduate, it suffices to read a text like 'Some Aspects of Color in General and Red and Black in particular' to become aware of the lamentable quality of his philosophising, even when it features in the prestigious catalogue of Tate Modern. We already discussed how insufficient his theory of colour is. But Judd's texts brim over with inaccuracies. Thus, he refuses to call his creations 'sculptures', because sculpture 'means carving to me' (cat. p. 61) As if the way in which something is made determines whether it is a sculpture or not. Hand-made objects like the head of Brancusi above, as well 'industrial' creations like the portrait of Naum Gabo below, are genuine sculptures, not by virtue of the way in which they are made, but by virtue of the fact that they represent something, unlike Judd's boxes:
Instead of speaking such plain language, Donald Judd, in his famous 'Specific Objects' (1965) prefers to introduce a new kind or art that is neither painting nor sculpture. The 'label' 'specific object' that Donald Judd wants to introduce instead of 'painting' or 'sculpture' is merely a rather clumsy attempt to mask that he is no longer making paintings or sculptures indeed - no longer art as such - but mere real objects. In other words: that he is no longer an artist but has become a 'free' or 'fine' designer.
That does not prevent Donald Judd from continuing to pose as an artist - and many others to feature him as such. Worse still: figures like Rudy Fuchs emphatically put him in line with masters like Van Eyck and Rafael as if to convince themselves that their protégé is really an artist, and not a mere designer. How else to explain that there is no mention of Sluter, Michelangelo or Bernini - would that perhaps have hindered the raising of Donald Judd on an artistic pedestal in a museum of fine arts?
The Britannica is wrong, hence, when it describes Donald Judd as an 'American minimalist sculptor' - 'minimalist free (of 'fine') designer' would have been far more accurate. And completely wrong goes Serota when he asserts in his foreword to the catalogue of the Tate exhibition that 'Donald Judd has changed the course of modern sculpture'...
© Stefan Beyst, July 2004
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