Donald Clarence Judd (1928–1994)
101 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012
212-219-2747
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ABOUT
101 Spring Street provides access to Donald Judd’s living and working space in downtown New York, the site development for his concept of the permanent installation of art. The historic building houses an extensive collective of modernist and period furniture, installed alongside works by other prominent twentieth century artists and designers.
Visits are led by artist guides and the visits allow for direct engagement with Judd’s installed spaces throughout the historically preserved living and working spaces.
SPECIAL RESOURCES
“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.”
— Donald Judd
Donald Clarence Judd (1928–1994)
Donald Judd revolutionized practices and attitudes surrounding art-making and the exhibition of art, advocating for the permanent installation of works by artists in carefully considered environments. Judd achieved this goal first at his studio/residence at 101 Spring Street in New York, and later in various locations in and around Marfa, Texas.
Judd filled 101 Spring Street with nearly 2,000 objects (200 pieces of art and furniture, 1,800 household objects), from rare prototypes and seminal works to prosaic furnishings he used everyday. His collection spans centuries of art and design, and reflects his personal interest in art and well-made things: paintings, sculpture and works on paper; furniture, including pieces by Alvar Aalto, Gerrit Rietveld, and the Thonet firm; and ceremonial and decorative objects and textiles from Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America. Judd included his own artwork as well as furniture he designed.
After 1972 Judd spent some of his time in Marfa, Texas, but he continued to use 101 Spring Street as a live/work studio until his death in 1994.
LEARN MORE
In 1969, Donald Judd moved with his young family to 101 Spring Street, a five-story cast-iron building at the corner of Spring and Mercer, having purchased the building in 1968. Judd would spend the next twenty years renovating the building to make a space where living and working were coextensive. As renovations were completed, Judd defined each floor’s function. The ground floor was his studio and a place for temporary installations; the second floor functioned as a kitchen and dining space, with furniture designed by Judd; the third floor was used by the artist as a studio; the fourth floor was designated as another dining area, with furniture designed by Judd; and the fifth floor designated for sleeping, he built a bathroom, a sleeping loft, and a bedroom. At 101 Spring Street, Judd permanently placed works of art in relation to the existing architectural context. He would continue this activity on a larger scale in Marfa. As Judd later stated in 1993, “The whole building is intended to stay exactly the way it is forever. When you see what’s happening to the SoHo area, and what they’re doing to the buildings, this building I think is important as an example of something serious done in its own time. So it’s intended to be this way.”
IN COLLABORATION WITH THE NATIONAL TRUST
Preservation Magazine
From Winslow Homer to Georgia O’Keeffe: Inside Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios