Donald Judd wasn’t always an artist. After dabbling for a few years with abstract painting in the mid 1950’s, he spent the early part of his career as an art critic and composed nearly 600 reviews, which were published in various art magazines as well as other outlets between 1959-1965. In this way, he gained direct access to the artists he wrote about and obtained insight into their approaches and methods. From there he began experimenting with sketching and drafting forms, eventually landing on the concept of objects that live in “real space,” as he put it.