Donald Judd

Laumeier Completes Conservation Project

(ST. LOUIS, MO) – Laumeier Sculpture Park announced the successful completion of its Donald Judd’s Untitled, 1984. The conservation project was made possible by a 2012 Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Donald Judd’s Untitled, 1984, consists of three open-ended cubes made of concrete panels, placed in a row for the viewer to look through like a tunnel. An additional concrete panel is placed vertically inside each cube at varying angles, calculated to change the viewer’s perception when looking through them. The square form appears frequently in Judd’s work and is considered a prime example of the conceptual interests of the Minimalist movement. Laumeier, in partnership with St. Louis County Parks, has provided continuous care to protect and preserve the structural and artistic integrity of Donald Judd’s Untitled, 1984, for its 300,000 annual visitors for nearly 30 years.

Originally loaned to Laumeier for two years. the artwork would be exhibited outdoors for the first time, Judd designed a temporary foundation for the piece and sent Kirk to supervise the installation at Laumeier in 1985. His design “floated” the three concrete units on top of 8 x 8 foot timbers stacked 3 feet high on sand, with a hollow interior foundation below. Laumeier purchased the artwork from the artist for its Permanent Collection in 1988.

Beginning in the 1960s, Judd exhibited regularly and widely at galleries in New York and throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. He married dancer Julie Finch in 1964 (later divorced), with whom he had two children, son Flavin Starbuck Judd and daughter Rainer Yingling Judd. While still maintaining his building in New York at 101 Spring Street, Judd moved to Marfa, Texas, in 1972, where he lived and worked until his death in 1994.

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