At a recent press preview, a reporter asked a representative of Mnuchin Gallery why the firm held shows of work that was not for sale. The answer, of course, is that it enables the gallery to learn more about its clientele’s desires and interests. Carol Vogel has a timely case in point about Art Institute of Chicago which has long sought a Donald Judd Stack:

Through the Mnuchin Gallery in New York, the Art Institute was able to acquire “Untitled (DSS 120)” from 1968, what Mr. Rondeau believes is among the last of the artist’s 1960s stacks still in private hands. Judd, who died in 1994, created his first stack in 1965. This one, measuring 10 feet from floor to ceiling, consists of identical stainless steel and Plexiglas boxes cantilevered from the wall at regular intervals so they form a column of alternating solids and voids.

The work was included in exhibitions of Judd stacks at the Art Institute earlier this year and the Mnuchin Gallery last year. Like many museums, the Art Institute does not disclose what it pays for acquisitions. But this stack was offered at a Christie’s auction in 2009, when it sold for nearly $4.9 million.

More Public Art for Governors Island  (Inside Art/NYTimes)