-By Jennifer Thiele Busch

When you study the work of Donald Judd in Marfa, Texas, you truly come to understand the complex and powerful relationship between architecture and landscape, space and light, raw nature and the precisely manufactured. When Judd migrated to this mere pinpoint on the map in 1972—a refugee of sorts from the sophisticated but smothering art scene in New York City—he arrived seeking a place where he could exhibit his art as he wanted it to be seen, independent of the gallery showings by which he, like most artists, made his living. In the introduction to his 2007 book Donald Judd: Architecture in Marfa, Texas, author Urs Peter Flückiger writes: "Any major museum showing 20th-century art most likely has a work by Donald Judd in its collection….In Marfa, Judd was in control of the artwork, its placement, and the location. In short, he was in control of all the factors he considered paramount when placing an artwork or establishing spaces in which to live. The visitor to Marfa experiences not just Judd's works, but those of his fellow artists in situations the artists themselves chose and considered appropriate."

Over the ensuing 22 years until his untimely death in 1994, Judd almost single-handedly elevated Marfa from an economically depressed West Texas cattle town to an art Mecca, celebrating the work of three pivotal artists—Dan Flavin, John Chamberlain, and Judd himself. After Dia Art Foundation purchased the decrepit Fort D.A. Russell, an abandoned army base now home to the Chinati Foundation, Judd carefully set about restoring its buildings and grounds to house his own art and the art of Dan Flavin. Indeed, the buildings and grounds here are at one with the art in a way that Judd could not have enjoyed in installations beyond his complete and holistic control. Other key sites in town were acquired and restored to show the work of sculptor John Chamberlain and to house Judd's various studios and living quarters.

On a recent trip to Marfa, Texas, hosted by Tandus (with the ever-gracious Terry Mowers and Suzanne Tick at the planning helm), Rand Elliott and I talked with Marianne Stockebrand—who worked closely with Judd in Marfa and now protects his legacy as the current director of the Chinati Foundation—about his ideas on space and place, and what is left to learn from this remarkable and prolific artist.



JTB: How did the sense of place influence Donald Judd's work?

MS: Early on, Judd felt that his work would be best presented if it had certain conditions surrounding the work itself. It was important for him to realize the work in a way he felt necessary and appropriate. He contemplated the choice between architecture and art and chose art because he thought it gave him greater freedom. Growing up in a rural area, he pointed out that the land was important to him. Because his thoughts and his art had so much to do with how it was placed and the immediate environment, he couldn't get placement where he wanted…so he started to do it himself.

Judd was an artist, and art was his only income. He needed to show his work in galleries, but this was not his ideal solution. He believed that if you sent objects around the world, they would lose some of their meaning, whereas permanent exhibits could give future generations a sense of what this time was about. That's why he wanted not just to have one object, but a bigger group of work in a setting that was on par with his sensitivities. And he didn't just complain and accuse. He did it. He ultimately achieved this.

JTB: Tell us about how Donald Judd used materials.

MS: The use of materials was important to him; he believed in modesty and appropriateness to the architecture. He felt it was important to not be offensive to the land, to the environment, to the community. A lot of architecture, he felt, was exaggerated, pretentious, elaborate, or decorative when it was not necessary. It was a broad attack. He was very direct.

JTB: What were Donald Judd's ideas on architecture and the integration of architecture and interiors?

MS: Relevance was very important to him; the appropriateness of the new, the potential for longevity—insofar as it is important not to be wasteful and to think about a design that can last. This might have been as much of an inspiration to him as this theme of clarity that runs throughout his work. Build what is appropriate and suitable to a climate and an area. [Architecture and interiors] are connected. That is what Chinati exemplifies, and exactly the reason why the foundation was established. He wanted things to be connected as they are connected in real life.

RE: My relationship with Judd's work is that he understood space better than most architects.

MS: Space is made, it doesn't exist. If you go outside you don't find space in the same way that we think about space. He would puncture that volume in an arbitrary or specific way. A specific way would be to give a work of architecture an axis of light.

The artillery sheds [at Chinati] are among Judd's most beautiful ideas. He added the vaults—a rectangular volume below, a circular volume above. These were often very subtle means, but they would define a space and how it works very clearly.

JTB: What aspects of Donald Judd's work have not been fully explored?

MS: I think that Donald Judd was a unique figure insofar as that he was capable of producing outstanding work in so many fields. It is not unknown but it is unknown in its complexity. It is not recognized deeply enough that he had this concept of space and he could apply it to anything from 100 untitled mill-aluminum pieces to the design of a tablecloth. All of that was achieved in his knowledge of the world, its history and philosophy. There were a lot of social and political considerations that informed his work.