Lot Essay
This set of woodcuts is a preeminent work for Donald Judd as a printmaker, in which he explores the major themes that fascinated him throughout his artistic career. Judd plays with space and shapes through repetition and variation by manipulating the picture plane in the most basic terms. As in his sculptural work, where the empty or 'negative' space around it is as important as the object itself, in these woodcuts the unprinted and the printed areas are equally important. The saturated blue ink exemplifies Judd's fascination with colour and non-colour in relation to space and perception. When hung in parallel lines, these ten prints recall Judd's stacked sculptures, creating a sense of tension and harmony, giving them tremendous wall power.