Verbatim
DONALD JUDD: 1971 Poster
VERBATIM
On the occasion of the Rail’s fifteenth anniversary, we are pleased to introduce Verbatim, a new monthly page featuring selected primary sources preserved within small, independent archival repositories. Verbatim aims to reproduce words and images relating to artists, musicians, and writers in their original formats, celebrating the collective wealth of documentation that forms the bedrock of our critical understanding of the humanities.
Donald Judd and Julie Finch Judd created this poster in the summer of 1971. It was made from four mimeographed 8.5 × 11-inch sheets of paper printed together as one on a larger size (17 × 22 inches). In it Judd, with Finch Judd’s assistance, assembled thirty-two statements from historical and contemporary sources, including a number of quotations found in The Public Life, a journal edited by Harvey Shapiro and Walter Karp.
The content of the poster is organized thematically and in roughly chronological order, revealing the racism and increased use of annexation and domination in wars fought by the United States of America. The series of quotes is presented without additional commentary, leaving interpretation open: it is up to the reader to discern patterns in the dialogues between speakers of different eras, ultimately revealing a complex story of continued hypocrisy and unethical use of power. To this day, it is still, “A rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.”
The poster was sold at the Westbeth Peace Festival to benefit the New York Peace Action Coalition and the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam.
Organized by activists Ron Wolin and Lucy Lippard, the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam was affiliated with the New York Peace Action Coalition, of which Rolin was co-coordinator. Many artists contributed to this fundraiser, including Carl Andre, Robert Barry, Ronald Bladen, Luis Camnitzer, Jon Hendricks, Leon Golub, Alex Katz, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, James Rosenquist, Nancy Spero, May Stevens, Robert Smithson, James Youngerman, and Judd. An unsigned copy of Judd’s poster was free.
—Judd Foundation
