Donald Judd's artistic development during the 1950s laid the groundwork for his later prominence as a key figure in the Minimalist movement. In the 1950s, Judd embarked on his formal education in the arts, studying philosophy and art history at Columbia University and attending classes at the Art Students League in New York. This period marked the beginning of his career as an art critic, a role through which he first gained public recognition. His critical writings from 1959 to 1965, notably for Arts magazine, offered a platform for developing his ideas on art and sculpture, which would later culminate in his seminal essay "Specific Objects"​ (MOMA)​. Judd's transition from abstract painting to creating the distinctive, three-dimensional forms for which he became known did not occur until the early 1960s. Therefore, the 1950s can be seen as a decade of exploration and theoretical development for Judd, a time during which he engaged deeply with the art world, both as a critic and as an emerging artist. His studies and experiences during this time allowed him to refine his aesthetic judgments and begin questioning the traditional frameworks of painting and sculpture, setting the stage for his later innovations​ (Wikipedia)​. Judd's early work in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before he fully embraced the three-dimensional "specific objects" that would define his career, was characterized by a gradual shift from figuration to abstraction. The woodcuts and paintings from this era reveal Judd experimenting with form and materiality, exploring the linear qualities that would later be central to his work in sculpture. His shift toward three-dimensional forms was informed by a rejection of the residual European value of illusionism in favor of tangible materials and "real space," a concept he articulated in "Specific Objects"​ (The Art Story)​. Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, Judd's involvement in New York's art scene and his intellectual engagement with the theories underpinning modern art shaped his critical perspective. This period of intellectual and artistic exploration was crucial for developing the principles that would guide his later work: a focus on the autonomy of the object, the rejection of traditional compositional hierarchies, and the embrace of industrial materials and processes. Judd's writings and artworks from the end of this period mark the beginning of his significant contributions to Minimalism and his lasting impact on the trajectory of contemporary art​ (MOMA)​​ (Wikipedia)​​ (The Art Story)​.