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Lot Essay
"A shape, a volume, a color, a surface is something itself. It shouldn't be concealed as part of a fairly different world." (D. Judd, in: Complete Writings 1975-1986, Eindhoven 1987, p. 7.)
"This work, dating from 1973, is occasionally referred to as 'Bull Nose', although the artist usually avoided giving his works descriptive titles. Perhaps the nickname has to do with the fact that it is difficult for observers to come to terms with the pure geometric form without associating it with 'something else', something other than the object seen - as the history of European art has taught us to do since time immemorial. Judd, however, was not interested in references of this kind. He agreed with his friend Frank Stella, who said: "What you see is what you see!" - and nothing else. Rudi Fuchs speaks of the 'visual authority' of Donald Judd's works, which is derived from an extremely precise and constructive combination of form, material and colour. 'Bull Nose' consists of an almost two-metre-long rectangular case in which four rounded elements are lined up horizontally, bulging out towards the front. The elements increase in width from left to right by increments of about three centimetres, while the width of the spaces between them decreases in the same rhythm. The evidently artificial colour underlines the precise, cool, synthetic material quality of this sculpture and clearly distinguishes it from everything else as something artificial...
"Judd always referred to his works as 'specific objects', as works of art that, for him, existed somewhere between painting and sculpture. He described them in these terms because they derive their representational qualities on the one hand from their physical volume and the space they occupy, and on the other hand from their material appearance, their surface qualities - internal and external - their coloration and the effect created under various lighting conditions.
As a result of their deliberate artificiality - expressed through a combination of dimensions, materials and coloration - Judd's works keep a safe distance from the observer and allow no interpretation." (T. Deecke, in: MINIMAL MAXIMAL. Minimal Art and its influence on international art of the 1990s, Bremen 1998, p. 145.)
"This work, dating from 1973, is occasionally referred to as 'Bull Nose', although the artist usually avoided giving his works descriptive titles. Perhaps the nickname has to do with the fact that it is difficult for observers to come to terms with the pure geometric form without associating it with 'something else', something other than the object seen - as the history of European art has taught us to do since time immemorial. Judd, however, was not interested in references of this kind. He agreed with his friend Frank Stella, who said: "What you see is what you see!" - and nothing else. Rudi Fuchs speaks of the 'visual authority' of Donald Judd's works, which is derived from an extremely precise and constructive combination of form, material and colour. 'Bull Nose' consists of an almost two-metre-long rectangular case in which four rounded elements are lined up horizontally, bulging out towards the front. The elements increase in width from left to right by increments of about three centimetres, while the width of the spaces between them decreases in the same rhythm. The evidently artificial colour underlines the precise, cool, synthetic material quality of this sculpture and clearly distinguishes it from everything else as something artificial...
"Judd always referred to his works as 'specific objects', as works of art that, for him, existed somewhere between painting and sculpture. He described them in these terms because they derive their representational qualities on the one hand from their physical volume and the space they occupy, and on the other hand from their material appearance, their surface qualities - internal and external - their coloration and the effect created under various lighting conditions.
As a result of their deliberate artificiality - expressed through a combination of dimensions, materials and coloration - Judd's works keep a safe distance from the observer and allow no interpretation." (T. Deecke, in: MINIMAL MAXIMAL. Minimal Art and its influence on international art of the 1990s, Bremen 1998, p. 145.)