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January 30, 2007

The Judd gaps

JuddOrange.jpgThe Judd Foundation's mission is to "promote a wider appreciation and understanding of Judd's artistic legacy by facilitating public access to these spaces and resources (in NYC and Texas) and developing scholarly and educational programs. How's it doing?

  • There has never been a Judd full-career retrospective at an American museum. (Dan Graham, Anne Truitt, Dan Flavin, Barnett Newman, Sol LeWitt, Robert Smithson: All done or being done.);
  • There is no Judd biography or catalogue raisonne;
  • The Judd papers/archive has not been catalogued or stored in climate-controlled conditions;
  • Most major American museums, including the National Gallery, SFMOMA, MAMFW, and LACMA have substantial Judd gaps; and
  • I could keep going.

    It's good that 101 Spring Street is open. (But not for $30 a head. See below.) That fulfills part of the foundation's mission. But the most that the Foundation can make from 101 Spring in a year (given the current visitation agreement, which I'm told will be in place for the foreseeable future) is $12,480. If they charged a reasonable amount they'd bring in around $6,000. So for $6,240 the Foundation is taking a PR hit, is acting (and looking) elitist, and is encouraging a narrow, upper-income appreciation of Judd rather than a "wider" appreciation.

    As for the bullet points: The Judd Foundation has made no announcements about progress on any of these items since their ~$20 million firesale last year. (To be extra-fair: Current leadership has been in place for about a year. It deserves a chance to perform. I'd just like to have heard that some of this is underway. And I wish I'd heard it right after the Christie's auction.) Judd is the most important American artist since Warhol. We're waiting.

    Posted January 30, 2007 8:33 AM

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