MARFA AFTER JUDD
by Sasha Watson
W
hen Minimalist artist
Donald Judd moved from
New York City to the small
ranching town of Marfa in 1972, he set
in motion a slow process of change that
continues today. The freestanding con-
crete boxes visible from Hwy. 67, the
great, light-filled buildings of the
Chinati Foundation and the 15 living
and working spaces maintained by the
Judd Foundation throughout the town
have all had a profound effect on con-
temporary art. But the effect on the
town of Marfa is another kind of legacy,
one that has grown out of and away
from Judd as a central figure. Over the
years, Marfa has gone from being a
sleepy ranching town to a unique cultur-
al community, where a constantly shift-
ing group of artists, writers and musi-
cians mingle with the local workers and
ranchers from Texas and Mexico.
If Judd was drawn to West Texas for
its open spaces, its mountains and its
sense of privacy, that was what he got in
the early 70s. “He wanted to be in the
middle of nowhere,” says Marianne
Stockebrand, Chinati’s director from
1994 to 2010. “He wanted to be away, in
pure landscape.” Those who recall
Marfa at that time recall a town that was
close to extinction. When Robert and
Rosario Halpern, co-owners and,
respectively, editor and CFO of the Big
Bend Sentinel, moved to Marfa in 1988,
Robert remembers that, “stores were
closing, banks were closing, things were
just closing. The town was at an eco-
nomic standstill.”
The military base, where Chinati now
stands, was known first as Camp Albert,
then as Camp Marfa and finally as Fort
D.A. Russell. As a base, it had brought
people and commerce to Marfa begin-
ning in 1911, when it served as a Cavalry
post and field base for military biplanes.
During World War II, it was the setting
for officer training exercises. When the
fort was shut down in 1946, Marfa
became the quiet place that Halpern
remembers from the late 80s.
It was seven years after Judd’s arrival
that ground was broken on what would
become the Chinati Foundation, a con-
temporary art museum made to house
4
Photo by Dallas Baxter
Visible from Hwy. 67, what was once a pasture and part of Fort D.A. Russell, the great light-filled buildings of the Chinati Foundation
reflect what Donald Judd believed to be of utmost importance: the relationship between an artwork and its surroundings, “an exam-
ple of what the art and its context were meant to be.”
specific works. Judd believed that the
relationship between an artwork and its
surroundings was of utmost importance,
and he created the museum as “an
example of what the art and its context
were meant to be.” With the help of the
Dia Art Foundation, Judd bought 340
acres of the former Fort Russell to house
his own large-scale sculptures as well as
works by a limited number of other
artists, including Dan Flavin, John
Chamberlain and Carl André. The
foundation was opened in 1986, and it is
flourishing today, bringing artists-in-resi-
dence to work and exhibit in Marfa,
restoring important works by Judd and
promoting his work internationally.
Cenizo
First Quarter 2011
Meanwhile, the Judd Foundation pre-
serves a number of Judd’s other build-
ings in Marfa, while opening some of
the buildings to public tours.
The early years saw changes at
Chinati but, for a time at least, the life of
the town was not greatly changed.
Cecilia Thompson, author of the two-
volume History of Marfa and Presidio
County, who is currently at work on a
third volume with her co-author, Louise
O’Connor, lived on the former military
base at the time. “There was activity out
at the fort,” she recalls. “But it didn’t
affect the town much at that time.”
And yet, quietly, the changes had
begun. Patrick Lannan, president of the
Lannan Foundation, whose prestigious
writers residency program is located in
Marfa, recalls coming to Marfa for the
first time: “I knew Donald Judd’s art and
writing so I went down there around
’93,” he says. “I had this idea of West
Texas from The Last Picture Show, and
when I got there, I was just really
impressed with what I saw. It’s incredibly
beautiful.” The foundation began buy-
ing and renovating houses for the resi-
dency program soon after.
After Judd’s death in 1994,
Stockebrand took over as director of
continued on page 24