[1][2] In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for the constructed object and the space created by it, ultimately achieving a rigorously democratic presentation without compositional hierarchy.

[3] Judd voiced his unorthodox perception of minimalism in Arts Yearbook 8, where he says, "The new three dimensional work doesn't constitute a movement, school, or style.

That the categorical identity of such objects was itself in question, and that they avoided easy association with well-worn and over-familiar conventions, was a part of their value for Judd.

He displayed two pieces in the seminal 1966 exhibit, "Primary Structures" at the Jewish Museum in New York where, during a panel discussion of the work, he challenged Mark di Suvero's assertion that real artists make their own art.

In 1968, Judd bought a five-story building in New York that allowed him to start placing his work in a more permanent manner than was possible in gallery or museum shows.

This would later lead him to push for permanent installations for his work and that of others, as he believed that temporary exhibitions, being designed by curators for the public, placed the art itself in the background, ultimately degrading it due to incompetency or incomprehension.

In 1971 he rented a house in Marfa, Texas, where he would later buy numerous buildings and acquired over 32,000 acres (130 km2) of ranch land, collectively known as Ayala de Chinati.

Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Northern Kentucky University commissioned a 9 feet (2.7 m) aluminum sculpture from Judd that was unveiled in the middle of the school's campus in 1976.

[19] Judd started using unpainted plywood in the early 1970s,[20] a material the artist embraced for its durable structural qualities, which enabled him to expand the size of his works while avoiding the problem of bending or buckling.

[21] In 1972[22] Judd appointed Peter Ballantine, a former Whitney Independent Study Program student, as the primary fabricator of his plywood works.

[23] He later began using Cor-ten steel in the 1980s for a small number of large-scale outdoor pieces, and by 1989 would create single and multi-part works with the material.

Within the parallelogram woodcut series there exists one exceptional, experimental impression of Untitled (6-L) (1969), now in the Palmer Museum of Art, University Park, Pennsylvania.

Early furniture was made by Judd of rough, lumberyard-cut pine but he continually refined the construction of the wooden pieces, employing craftspeople using a variety of techniques and materials around the world.

[32] Judd's activity in architecture and furniture design increased beginning around 1978, at which time he was involved professionally and romantically with Lauretta Vinciarelli, an Italian-born architect and artist.

[34] Vinciarelli lived and worked with Judd in Marfa and New York for roughly a decade and collaborated with him on projects for Providence and Cleveland, and her influence can be seen on his architecture and furniture design.

[37] In 1984, Judd commissioned Lehni AG, the fabricator of his multi-colored works in Dübendorf, Switzerland to produce his furniture designs in sheet metal, in finishes of monochrome colored powdercoat based on the RAL colour standard, clear anodized aluminium, or solid copper.

[38][39] In 1979, with help from the Dia Art Foundation, Judd purchased a 340 acres (1.4 km2) tract of desert land near Marfa,[13] which included the abandoned buildings of the former U.S. Army Fort D. A. Russell.

The permanent collection consists of large-scale works by Judd, sculptor John Chamberlain, light-artist Dan Flavin and select others, including Ingólfor Arnarsson, David Rabinowitch, Roni Horn, Ilya Kabakov, Richard Long, Carl Andre, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen, as well as Robert Irwin.

[112] Judd Foundation maintains and preserves his permanently installed living and working spaces, libraries, and archives across 22 buildings that comprise more than 100,000 square feet (approx.

The Foundation promotes a wider understanding of Judd's artistic legacy by providing access to these spaces and resources and by developing scholarly and educational programs.

The foundation board requested one of its members, publisher Richard Schlagman, to get Christie's and Sotheby's to submit proposals for the sale of a group of works.

[113] Christie's offered a reported $21 million guarantee and agreed to display the consigned work for five weeks in New York on the 20th floor of the Simon & Schuster building.

Concerns that the sale would have an adverse effect on the market proved unfounded and the exhibition itself won an AICA award for "Best Installation in an Alternative Space" for 2006.

The $20 million in proceeds from the sale went into an endowment to enable the Foundation to fulfill its mission, by supporting the permanent installations that are located at 101 Spring Street in New York City and Marfa, Texas.

[114] In 2013, the Judd Foundation — led by the artist's children — completed a $23 million renovation of 101 Spring Street, opening the building to the public for the first time.

Judd then worked with Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, where he had a number of solo shows, and PaceWildenstein, which represented him through the end of his life.

[124] One of Judd's large stacks, comprising 10 galvanised iron elements with nine-inch (228.6 mm) intervals, untitled (1977) fetched $9.8 million at Christie's in 2007.

As of 2013, the artist's auction record is held by untitled (1963) a large-scale sculpture executed in galvanized iron, aluminum and wood, which sold for $14,165,000 at Christie's New York in 2013.