/

1. Introduction

Donald Judd (1928‒1994), known as a leading artist of the twentieth century, began his career in New York after studying painting and philosophy. He was an active art critic from 1959 to 1965 and initially gained recognition through his writing, including exhibition reviews and critical essays, while simultaneously working as an artist.

Leaving New York in the 1970s and moving to Marfa, Texas, near Mexico, he repurposed buildings for living and working, and established the Chinati Foundation for the permanent installation of art. Each of the spaces Judd pursued in this way has now, after half a century, remained as Judd intended in Marfa.

In addition to a selection of Judd’s early paintings from the 1950s and the three-dimensional works from the 1960s through the 1990s, this exhibition introduces his spaces in Marfa through drawings, plans, videos, and materials. The works and materials presented in this exhibition allow visitors to discover Judd’s strong conviction about the integrity of visual art and its installation, of which he wrote “cannot be reduced to performance.” The exhibition also features a section documenting the 1978 exhibition, The Sculpture of Donald Judd (February 22–March 22, 1978), organized by WATARI-UM founder Shizuko Watari. And texts here throughout the museum explore the scope of Judd’s work through key concepts.

2. Three-dimensional objects

Judd’s 1964 text “Specific Objects” is an important critical essay describing the trends in American art at the time.

Three dimensions are real space. That gets rid of the problem of illusionism and of literal space, space in and around marks and colors – which is riddance of one of the salient and most objectionable relics of European art. The several limits of painting are no longer present. A work can be as powerful as it can be thought to be. Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface.*1

Noting that this text is not an explanation of Judd’s own work, here we see his idea that the object itself would appear in space, without generating illusion or theatricality.

Many of his early works were characterized by a rough finish, as he created them by his own hand or with the help of his father (who was skilled in woodworking). However, Judd explains this was solely for financial reasons. To eliminate the handcrafted aspect of his own work, he began working with fabricators in 1964.

*1 Donald Judd, “Specific Objects”, 1964.


・Untitled, 1967, Galvanized iron
 Collection: Ohara Museum of Art, Ohara Art Foundation, Kurashiki
・Untitled, 1990, Black anodized aluminum with bronze plexiglass (10units)
 Collection: Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art

3. New York

After several solo exhibitions at galleries and group shows at museums, the Whitney Museum presented a retrospective in 1968. That same year, he purchased the five-story cast-iron building at 101 Spring Street (in the current SoHo district), establishing it as both his residence and studio.

My requirements were that the building be useful for living and working and more importantly, more definitely, be a space in which to install work of mine and of others. At first I thought the building large but now I think it small; it didn’t hold much work after all. I spent a great deal of time placing the art and a great deal designing the renovation in accordance. Everything from the first was intended to be thoroughly considered and to be permanent, as, despite several, it still is.*1

Artists were the first to notice this SoHo area, originally small-scale industrial and commercial districts. As the area’s industries gradually declined, they began establishing studio-apartments here, and many galleries also took root. However, New York City also had plans for urban renewal, called Lower Manhattan Expressway, in this district. Against the city’s redevelopment plans, Judd joined the civic movement alongside his then-wife, Julie Finch. This involvement led him to have an interest in a community-based political organization. However, he eventually came to disagree with the operations and discourse of the artist-led civic interest groups organized in New York City at that time, including the Art Workers’ Coalition and the Soho Artists Association.

An excellent artist has to know the work of older excellent artists as the person’s own work is being formed. It’s a case of knowledge. There’s a lot of art and a lot of artists in New York. But not all of either and most of the artists have come somewhere else. Also most well-known artists leave New York after a while since the place is so disagreeable. There’s nothing mysterious about New York. It’s just that knowledge and a lot of business are there.*2

He believed artists could and should participate politically as citizens. But he was critical of the role of art and artists in enacting change through art alone. Judd, who believed art existed as something in itself, began distancing himself from local civic activities in Soho, where art might be used or made to serve political and cultural purposes.

Art is a peripheral activity, almost outside of the society of the United States. I felt that I had to leave that society to be an artist.*3

He resolved to leave the city in search of a more comfortable place to be as an artist. Yet the practice he continued in a simpler place like Marfa began at 101 Spring Street, where he repurposed architecture for the permanent installation of art.

*1 Donald Judd, “Spring St 101”, 1989.
*2 Donald Judd, “Imperialism, Nationalism and Regionalism”, 1975.
*3 Ibid.


・Welfare Island, 1956, Oil on canvas
 Collection: Judd Foundation
・101 Spring Street, New York, circa 1970
 Photo Paul Katz, courtesy Judd Foundation

4. From paintings to objects

Two things were going on in the painting: some of the earlier ones were organic and had curved lines; secondly, they were illusionistic to some extent, and I very steadily got tired of both things and tried to get rid of spatial illusionism, but I couldn’t get rid of it.*1

Judd had grown weary of organic curves in two-dimensional paintings. Even when attempting abstraction to eliminate the inevitable illusionism that arises from imitating real space, he could not get rid of it. In a sense, his turn toward three-dimensional objects was inevitable. Yet the path he took was profoundly accidental.

[O]ne of the first three-dimensional ones started off as a piece of canvas from a failed painting that I tried to turn up, but I couldn’t make the canvas turn up evenly. *2

The failed canvas became the turning point in Judd’s work, which evolved from low relief to high relief and finally to freestanding pieces. The early landscapes and abstract paintings exhibited here represent Judd’s work prior to the accident. During his early New York period, he gradually shifted his approach from landscape painting to abstraction, struggling against illusionism.

*1 “Don Judd: An Interview with John Coplans,” from the exhibition catalogue Don Judd, 1971.
*2 Ibid.


・Untitled, 1956, Oil on canvas*
・Untitled, 1958, Oil on canvas*
・Untitled, 1955, Oil on canvas*
 *Collection: Judd Foundation

5. Red as a color that defines objects

I like the color and I like the quality of cadmium red light. And then, also, I thought for a color it had the right value for a three-dimensional object. If you paint something black or any dark color, you can’t tell what its edges are like. If you paint it white, it seems small and purist. And the red, other than a gray of that value, seems to be the only color that really makes an object sharp and defines its contours and angles.*1

For Judd, who sought to reveal the object itself within space, color was a subject of interest, yet its treatment seemed to trouble him. In his early works, Judd frequently employed red. He disliked how black blurred contours and how white appeared purist, so he used red as a color that clearly defined form.

Years later, he said that his shift to creating multicolored works using painted aluminum became possible because Swiss baked enamel based on the RAL color system offered more clear colors than American paint. Judd, who had learned to treat color as a material, stated that when combining multiple colors, he did not seek harmonious paintings nor deliberately create inharmonious combinations. In order to move away from the idea of order and structure found in representational painting of the European tradition, he simply wanted all colors to be present at once.

*1 “Don Judd: An Interview with John Coplans,” from the exhibition catalogue Don Judd, 1971.


・Untitled, 1960, Oil on canvas
 Collection: Judd Foundation
・Untitled, 1989, Painted aluminum
 Collection: Kirishima Open-Air Museum

6. Materials

I’m very interested in the material that my work is made of, and showing that material, but because any kind of material is mostly gray, that eliminates color. So there’s always been this problem of how to make color and how to deal with it as a thing in itself, just as the material is. A lot of times I’ve used plexiglass, which, clearly, it’s plexiglass and it’s colored. I used to use paint, but it tended to be another surface that you put on metal, which to some extent falsifies the metal.*1

For Judd, paint was a concern because it tended to obscure the essence of materials. Plexiglass was a convenient material in that it allowed him to use the material as it was—without paint—while also possessing clear color. That said, it wasn’t that he preferred artificial materials; he wanted to use wood as a substance possessing its own unique materiality and color.

I think that plywood is like galvanised iron, which I have always used; it’s a plain material, it’s an ordinary commercial material. I link it to the galvanised iron, and also, I don’t especially distinguish between the pieces that have lots of color and those that don’t have very much color. To me, the galvanised iron is colored, the plywood is colored.*2

However, upon closer reflection, considering that during the period when Judd transitioned from two-dimensional to three-dimensional work, he experimented with thick impasto by mixing sand into oil paint for his relief-like pieces, it becomes clear that paint itself was also a material, a substance. Viewed this way, it seems plausible that paint as a material was supported by the canvas as a support in his two-dimensional work, while the material itself came to stand independently, serving as its own support without a frame or pedestal in his three-dimensional work. And this evolution was also a means to circumvent the concept of composition, the referential aspect of visual art that he was also moving away from.

*1 “Donald Judd”, Interview with Michael Archer, March 1986.
*2 Interview with Friedrich Teja Bach, May 5, 1975.


・Untitled, March 18, 1984, Color samples from RAL chart and pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Untitled, March 18, 1984, Color samples from RAL chart and pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Untitled, July 24, 1986, Color samples from RAL chart and pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Untitled, 1991, Clear anodized aluminum with transparent amber over yellow plexiglass*
 * Collection: Judd Foundation

7. A good chair is a good chair

[T]he difference between art and architecture is fundamental. Furniture and architecture can only be approached as such. Art cannot be imposed upon them.*1

Judd creating functional furniture might seem to contradict his attitude of focusing on the object itself. In fact, he once made a coffee table referencing his own work, which has a rectangular volume with a recessed top, and admitted it was a failure.

Nevertheless, he continued making furniture because, after moving to Marfa, he couldn’t find suitable pieces to buy and had to make them himself. Architecture, too, was another activity he pursued while consciously distinguishing it from his artworks in terms of its functional nature.

I can now make a chair or building that is mine without trying to derive forms from my own works of art.*2

*1 Donald Judd, “It’s hard to find a good lamp”, 1993.
*2 Ibid.


・Front Shelf Chair 84-6, Designed 1978, Originally made in pine 
 Collection: Shinichiro Nakahara
・Drawing for chairs, January 1983, Pencil on paper (surrogate) 
 Collection: Judd Foundation

8. Permanent installation

There is no neutral space, since space is made, indifferently or intentionally, and since meaning is made, ignorantly or knowledgeably. This is the beginning of my concern for the surroundings of my work.*1

Now, having turned away from representational painting and moved from two-dimensional to three-dimensional work, Judd began to place greater importance on the surrounding space in which his pieces were placed. As his contemporaries also avoided the homogenous environments of museums and galleries, turning instead to site-specific endeavors or advocating anti-form and avoiding the creation of objects’ independent shapes themselves, Judd arrived at the concept of the permanent installation.

The installation of my work and of others’ is contemporary with its creation. The work is not disembodied spatially, socially, temporally, as in most museums. The space surrounding my work is crucial to it: as much thought has gone into the installation as into a piece itself. The installations in New York and Marfa are a standard for the installation of my work elsewhere. My work and that of others is often exhibited badly and always for short periods. Somewhere there has to be a place where the installation is well done and permanent. This obviously implies that museums are inadequate for their job. My installations and architecture are very much in defense of my work. Visual, spatial art cannot be reduced to performance.*2

Permanent installation was both an act of rebellion against established institutions like museums and galleries. It was also an expression of his discomfort with the commercial “cash-and-carry” attitude toward art in New York. Most importantly, it was crucial to his idea of living and working and to the development of his art. Following his practice at 101 Spring Street, this approach would bear fruit in Marfa.

*1 Donald Judd, “21 February 1993”
*2 Donald Judd, “Judd Foundation”, 1977.


・Untitled, 1977, Stainless steel and blue plexiglass*
・Drawing for a sculpture, 1977, Pencil on paper*
・Drawing for a sculpture, 1977, Pencil on paper*
・Drawing for a sculpture, 1977, Pencil on paper*
 * Collection: WATARI-UM, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art

9. Exhibition in Galerie Watari

Donald Judd’s first solo exhibition in Japan was held here in 1978 at Galerie Watari (The Sculpture of Donald Judd, Galerie Watari, Tokyo, Japan, February 22–March 22, 1978 ), the predecessor to WATARI-UM, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art. Three objects were displayed in the gallery space located near the current WATARI-UM’s external stairwell, while five drawings and two prints were exhibited in the back room.

This corner recreates the original Galerie Watari exhibition using models alongside archival materials, inviting visitors to witness the passage of approximately 50 years.


[wall, from top left]
・Donald Judd, 1977 Donald Judd Art © 2026 Judd Foundation/ARS, NY/JASPAR, Tokyo*
・Donald Judd and Shizuko Watari, 1977*
・Donald Judd and Shizuko Watari at the opening of The Sculpture of Donald Judd at Galerie Watari, 1978*
・Toshiaki Minemura, Yayoi Kusama and Yoichi Kimura, at the opening of The Sculpture of Donald Judd at Galerie Watari, 1978*
・Lauretta Vinciarelli, Yayoi Kusama and Donald Judd at the opening of The Sculpture of Donald Judd at Galerie Watari, 1978*
・Letter from Shizuko Watari to Donald Judd, July 27, 1976*
・Letter from Shizuko Watari to Donald Judd, November 25, 1976*
・Drawing for Galerie Watari exhibition layout, February 7, 1977*
・Installation instructions for works by Donald Judd, circa 1977*
[opposite wall]
・Untitled, 1977, Etching on paper**
・Untitled, 1977, Etching on paper**
[table]
・Model of The Sculpture of Donald Judd at Galerie Watari, 1978 (Scale 1:20), 2026, Paper, made by w/ (Hirotaka Sugisaki)
・Catalogue of The Sculpture of Donald Judd at Galerie Watari, 1978, Designed by Mitsuo Katsui**
・Invitation of The Sculpture of Donald Judd at Galerie Watari, 1978**
 * Courtesy Judd Foundation
 ** Collection: WATARI-UM, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art

10. Marfa

This place is primarily for the installation of art, necessarily for whatever architecture of my own that can be included in an existing situation, for work, and altogether for my idea of living.*1

In the early 1970s, Judd traveled through the American Southwest and Mexico in search of a place to live and install his work, finally discovering Marfa. It was the perfect empty space to realize his idea of permanent installation, as well as a place to escape his discomfort with the city of New York.

The enterprise in Marfa was meant to be constructive. The art was meant to be, and now will be, permanently installed and maintained in a space suitable to it. Most of the art was made for existing buildings, which were dilapidated. The buildings were adjusted to the art as much as possible. New ones would have been better. Nevertheless, in reworking the old buildings, I’ve turned them into architecture.*2

Judd began acquiring buildings in Marfa in 1973. Most of these buildings were repurposed existing structures and are now managed by two foundations.

Conceived by Judd himself in 1977, the Judd Foundation was established after his death to preserve his work and the work of other artists, as well as the spaces in which they were installed. The foundation primarily manages the buildings that Judd used as living and working spaces.

Established in 1986, the Chinati Foundation operates buildings that were primarily designed as exhibition spaces. All buildings are repurposed structures formerly used as U.S. military facilities known as Fort D.A. Russell. In addition to works by Judd, the foundation also houses permanent installations by John Chamberlain, Dan Flavin, Ilya Kabakov, and others.

*1 Donald Judd, “Marfa, Texas”, 1985.
*2 Donald Judd, “Statement for the Chinati Foundation”, 1987.


・[monitor] Slideshow: Judd Foundation*
・[monitor] Slideshow: The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati*
・[wall image] Plan of Marfa, Texas (Scale 1:1000)
 Drawing: Urs Peter Flueckiger, Courtesy Judd Foundation
・[wall image] Donald Judd in courtyard of La Mansana de Chinati/The Block with To Dave Shackman (1964), 1975*
 Photo Jamie Dearing © Judd Foundation. Jamie Dearing Papers, Judd Foundation Archives, Marfa, Texas.
 * Donald Judd Art © 2026 Judd Foundation/ARS, NY/JASPAR, Tokyo.

11. Judd’s architectural interventions – Initial Idea / Division of Space / Integration of Art and Living

Before moving to Marfa, Judd had rented a house called the Casa Lujan in southwestern Texas. Its simple layout, consisting of four 11-foot (3.4m) square rooms arranged side by side, seemed to serve as a source of inspiration for Judd. He conceived architectural plans that gradually altered the way the rooms were divided, leaving behind numerous sketches. The division of space (and planes) was one of Judd’s consistent themes.

For example, Casa Perez is a ranch house built in the area known as Chinati Mountains, about an hour’s drive from the center of Marfa. Like Casa Lujan, the existing floor plan comprised four rooms. Judd constructed a separate space housing the plumbing facilities outdoors, along with the pergola and platforms encircling the existing water tank.

I’ve never built anything on new land. One house is on a bench along an arroyo and by use and carelessness the land around was damaged. The house needed more shade, but putting a larger porch around it would only increase its conventional aspects.*1

Judd acquired this land in 1983 and continued purchasing adjacent parcels thereafter. By 1994, he owned 40,000 acres. Here, we can know Judd’s resolve to prevent further development and preserve untouched wilderness.

Meanwhile, at La Mansana de Chinati (also known as the Block), where Judd continued his architectural interventions from 1973 until his later years, serious consideration of permanent installations began in earnest around 1974. By around 1975, an outer wall using adobe bricks—a regional building material—was constructed along the block’s boundary, effectively enclosing the existing buildings. The height of this wall was aligned with the existing building facades. The courtyard typology was a form Judd was particularly devoted to, and within the space enclosed by these outer walls, he continued his architectural interventions, including the construction of a pergola, a pool, and a chicken coop.

These two projects represent Judd’s practice within his private space, demonstrating the fusion of living and exhibition spaces.

Yes, because in order to live with the art, you have to be relatively comfortable. Also, I like for the rooms that have art to have some sort of function. It doesn’t have to be so great, but if you can sit there and have a drink, or eat, or lie down, or read, then you look at the work. Because you can’t look at the art, I think, as we’re supposed to in museums and galleries, really. You walk in, you look at it, you walk out, and that’s it. I can’t see anything that way.*2

*1 Donald Judd, “Ayala de Chinati”, 1989.
*2 Interview with Pilar Viladas, 1985.

12. Judd’s architectural interventions – Altering Openings as Minimum Intervention

I guess that quartering is the simplest form of a grid, or it relates to the relief, and to the little house we lived in – there were just four rooms, that’s all, right together.*1

As confirmed in the case of Casa Perez, Simple division is one of the recurring themes in Judd’s art and architecture, most prominently manifested in his window designs. In the Artillery Sheds, where 100 aluminum works are installed, aluminum fixed windows are arranged in a row. Just as he was meticulous about dividing the space, Judd was equally particular about how to divide the windows. He designed the size of the divisions to correspond with the space and the works, ultimately creating four sections in the shape of a cross.

The one-quarter swiveled at the Chamberlain Building, then one-half of a door swiveled, so that led to the idea of a whole swiveling gate.*2

This cross-divided window appears repeatedly in the architecture in Marfa. In the Chamberlain Building, the part of the window can be opened and closed, and the entire structure can rotate, allowing this motif to also serve as doors and gates. Upon careful reflection, altering openings to control light, airflow, and sequences may be the architectural intervention that achieves the greatest effect with the least intervention.

Doing good architecture for less money I think is the main idea.*3

Judd’s renovations prioritised art and living. He minimized intervention in the architecture itself, preserving the land and existing structures while ensuring a clear relationship between the space and work. Yet it is precisely this approach that has resulted in a spatial quality that seems to represent a possible solution to renovation — one born from carefully reading the existing conditions and implementing what he deemed to be reasonable proposals.

*1 Interview with Pilar Viladas, 1985.
*2 Ibid.
*3 Ibid.

13. Pivot door

For this exhibition, CG Animation is created, viewing the pivot door as Judd’s most significant architectural intervention at Marfa. Installed outdoors at the Arena, this door resembles a gate and clearly demonstrates Judd’s approach of focusing on enclosure, division, and sequence. If viewed as a kind of permanent installation, this door too would remain there forever.

・Pivot Door in front of The Arena, CG Animation, 2026, Movie (2min)
 Production: SUNJUNJIE.studio (SUNJUNJIE, Rintaro Mishima)

/

Ⅰ. Ideas for Enclosure

In his early drawings, he created variations on dividing rooms and enclosing spaces using architectural elements like walls and roofs. This study, which later crystallized into the technique employed at La Mansana de Chinati to integrate multiple buildings into a single, self-contained architectural complex, expresses methods of division and connection within space that are also found in his three dimensional works.

・Drawing for tank at Las Casas, June 26, 1985, Pencil on paper (surrogate)
 Collection: Judd Foundation
・Drawing for tank at Las Casas, February 16, 1989, Pencil on paper (surrogate)
 Collection: Judd Foundation
・Architectural drawing of Horti Conclusi (Houses within a wall or outside or between two walls)
 Courtesy Judd Foundation

Ⅱ. Casa Perez

Casa Perez, an adobe ranch house built in the early 1900s located in Judd’s ranch Ayala de Chinati, land located in the Chinati Mountains of Presidio County.The existing house, divided into four sections on the floor plan, was assigned to the kitchen, living room, dining room, and bedroom, with the utility areas separated and added as an extension. By integrating the utility areas with the pergola, the extension blends seamlessly into the continuity of the pergolas.

・Drawing for ramada for cars at Casa Perez, August 3, 1987, Pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Drawing for Casa Perez, August 19, 1985, Pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Drawing for Casa Perez, October 1982, Pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Construction of bath and tiendita at Casa Perez, Ayala de Chinati, Texas, 1983. **
・Casa Perez, Judd Foundation, Ayala de Chinati, Texas**
 Photo © Elizabeth Felicella Donald Judd Art © 2026 Judd Foundation/ARS, NY/JASPAR, Tokyo
・Plan for Casa Perez, Judd Foundation, Ayala de Chinati (Scale 1:500) **
 Drawing: Urs Peter Flueckiger
 * Collection: Judd Foundation / ** Courtesy Judd Foundation

Ⅲ. La Mansana de Chinati / the Block

Originally a utilities workshop with spaces dedicated to plumbing, carpentry and electrical work. Later used for storage by a local automotive repair shop, this space was the first building Judd purchased in Marfa. Enclosing this block—comprising two hangars and a two-story building—with adobe, he made various spatial interventions within the courtyard.

Inside the east and west buildings, Judd’s works are permanently installed, carefully positioned alongside furniture from his collection, with openings thoughtfully placed.

・Architectural drawing of Mandana de Chinati/The Block
 Courtesy Judd Foundation
・Drawing for La Mansana de Chinati/The Block, April 3, 1984, Pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Drawing for La Mansana de Chinati/The Block, undated, Pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Drawing for pergola at La Mansana de Chinati/The Block, September 25, 1981, Pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Drawing for two story building at La Mansana de Chinati/The Block, November 5, 1984, Pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・La Mansana de Chinati/The Block, Judd Foundation, Marfa, Texas
 Photo © Elizabeth Felicella, Courtesy Judd Foundation**
・La Mansana de Chinati/The Block, Judd Foundation, Marfa, Texas
 Photo Alex Marks © Judd Foundation**
 * Collection: Judd Foundation / ** Donald Judd Art © 2026 Judd Foundation/ARS, NY/JASPAR, Tokyo

Ⅳ. Arena

Originally an aircraft hangar, later used as a gym and indoor house riding arena. Existing openings were either left as-is, filled in while leaving recesses, or filled completely without recesses—revealing Judd’s thoughtful approach to openings.
The original strip-shaped concrete foundations that supported the floor were left in place. Gravel was laid between them, and new concrete was poured in sections to create a partially flat floor surface.

・Architectural plan of The Arena at The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati
 Courtesy Judd Foundation
・Arena, 1980–87 Permanent collection, The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas
 Photo Florian Holzherr Courtesy The Chinati Foundation

Ⅴ. Chamberlain Building

John Chamberlain’s work is installed in a space that was once a warehouse for wool and mohair for military uniforms. Here, pivot doors are used not only as windows, but also to divide and connect the entrance and the spaces.

・Drawing for pivoting doors, March 18, 1980, Pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Drawing for Chamberlain Building, February 11, 1986, Pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・Drawing for Chamberlain Building, March 4, 1984, Pencil on paper (surrogate)*
・John Chamberlain Building, Marfa, Texas
 Photo Florian Holzherr Courtesy The Chinati Foundation
 * Collection: Judd Foundation

Ⅵ. Art Studio

For the space that was once a grocery store, Judd removed the extant machinery, dropped the ceiling, and added skylights to increase natural light. Beneath it, there are material samples such as plexiglass and various metals, and more than a dozen of Judd’s drawings and collages alongside the installed long worktables and shelving for artworks. This setup makes it easy to imagine how Judd conceived his pieces.
Installed in the space are Judd’s painted aluminum works, which were powder coated and enameled using colors from the RAL European Industrial color system. Judd’s drawings and possible color combinations for these works can also be found in the studio along with RAL color samples.

・Test print, 1978, Woodcut print on Japanese paper
 Collection: WATARI-UM, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art

Ⅶ. Ayala de Chinati

In 1976, Judd began purchasing sections of land in the Presidio County region close to the U.S.-Mexico border on the north side of the Chinati Mountains in the Chihuahuan Desert.

Judd later named his ranch, which included this land, Ayala de Chinati which translates from the Basque word “ayala” as a region where slope and meadow meet. This land included existing structures, which Judd transformed into spaces that reflected his approach to rural architecture and land conservation.

The ranch includes three ranch houses—Casa Perez, Casa Morales, and Las Casas—permanently installed by Judd and maintained today by Judd Foundation.

・Casa Morales, Judd Foundation, Ayala de Chinati, Texas
 Photo © Elizabeth Felicella Photo courtesy Judd Foundation
・Casa Perez, Judd Foundation, Ayala de Chinati, Texas
 Photo Flavin Judd © Judd Foundation
・Las Casas, Judd Foundation, Ayala de Chinati, Texas
 Photo Alex Marks © Judd Foundation
・Architectural plan for Casa Morales, Judd Foundation, Ayala de Chinati (Scale 1:200)*
・Architectural plan for Casa Perez, Judd Foundation, Ayala de Chinati (Scale 1:200)*
・Architectural plan for Las Casas, Judd Foundation, Ayala de Chinati (Scale 1:300)*
 * Measurement and Drawing: Urs Peter Flueckiger with students Courtesy Judd Foundation

/

01.Artillery Sheds(1979-86) Exterior

A building that once served as artillery storage for a military facility has been installed with 100 aluminium works by Judd. In order to stop leaks, Judd added a vaulted roof to the previously flat-roofed space, thereby doubling the building’s height and altering its proportions.

/

02.Whyte Building(1990) Exterior

A swivel door has been added to the building, which previously served as a storage barn. This is one of Judd’s methods of introducing architectural changes to existing spaces while keeping intervention to a minimum.

/

03.Arena(1980-84) Exterior

Originally an aircraft hangar, later used as a gym and indoor riding hall. The cross doors, frequently featured in Judd’s architectural interventions, functions as a gate here by being positioned independently outdoors.

/

04.Casa Perez(1983-87) Interior

About an hour’s drive from Marfa lies the ranch house, which is located in an area called Ayala de Chinati. The relationship between the exhibition space, the living space and the positioning of the opening is perfect within its most private spaces.

/

05.Whyte Building(1990) Interior

Judd favoured natural light and drew it through the swivel door that he installed. He corresponded the depth and brightness of the space with the light, and determined the layout of the furniture and two-dimensional works in relation to it.

/

06.Arena(1980-84) Interior

Some existing openings have been left as they are, some have been filled in while retaining a recess, and some have been filled in without leaving a recess. Judd’s thoughtful approach to openings is evident here.

/

07.La Mansana de Chinati / the Block(1973-1994) West building Interior

Originally an aircraft hangar, later used as a warehouse. A unique feature is the placement of a bed alongside Judd’s work. It’s a fusion of exhibition and living spaces.

/

08.La Mansana de Chinati / the Block(1973-1994) West building Interior

The position of the entrance door has been adjusted to accommodate the permanent installation. This is one example of Judd’s emphasis on sequence in his renovation.

/

09.La Mansana de Chinati / the Block(1973-1994) Winter garden

Judd repeatedly attempted to create courtyard-like external spaces by enclosing areas. The Winter Garden is situated in a corner of Manzana de Chinati, with a pool at the front of the garden and benches and windows overlooking the outside of the property at the rear.

/

10.Chamberlain Building(1080-86) Interior

John Chamberlain’s work is installed in an area that used to be a fabric warehouse. Judd was interested in how space is divided. Cross doors are also used to divide and connect spaces.