Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Christo and Jeanne-Claude are an artistic duo known best for wrapping objects and buildings, as well as other types of environmental art. They are arguably the best-known practitioners of what is called installation art. Some of their famous works include the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin, Pont Neuf in Paris with white cloth and "Running Fence" (1976) a 24-mile-long display of fabric strung across Marin County and Sonoma County, California reaching to the Pacific Ocean. Their most recent project was 2005's The Gates, in New York City's Central Park.

The Artists

Christo

Christo Yavasheff (Bulgarian Христо Явашев), better known simply as Christo, is the primary artist and designer of the duo's projects. He was born June 13, 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. His father, Wladimir Jawaschew, a scientist, and his mother, Tsweta Dimitrowa, a former sectretary at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, married in 1930 and had three children: Anani, Christo and Stefan.

He had his first drawing and painting lessons at the age of six and Christo's talents for art were soon discovered by artists from the Academy visiting the family and taught him.

He had a foible for theatre and staged Shakespeare plays in his youth. In 1953 he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts, but due to the strict socialist curriculum imposed by the ruling Communist Party (in power since the Red Army invasion of 1944), he was disappointed by the education he received.

In 1956, Christo visited relatives in Czechoslovakia and decided to leave Bulgaria in 1957. He went to Vienna, where he was employed by friends of his father and studied at the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts. After a semester, however, he went on a short trip to Geneva, after which moved to Paris. Due to his flight he lost his citizenship, becoming stateless.

Christo lived with constant financial difficulties, earning money by painting portraits. In Paris, Christo visited many exhibitions and museums and was inspired by Joan Miro, Nicholas de Stael and especially by Jean Dubuffet. In January 1958 he made his first piece of wrapping art. He wrapped an empty paint-tin with acrylic soaked canvas, tied it and coloured it with glue, sand and car paint. Christo said that he didn't know why he did it in the first place. In hindsight, it showed his own state of being: the feeling of cultural isolation, sadness and poverty. Christo was fascinated by Paris and enjoyed his freedom. He rented a small studio and continued his work wrapping things.

From then on he only earnt a small amount of money painting portraits, calling it a form of prostitution. Christo got to know the German entrepreneur Dieter Rosenkranz who bought some of his wrappings. Visiting Rosenkranz in Germany, he met other artists, among them Yves Klein and the art historian Pierre Restany. His wrappings were underestimated by many artists. Christo continued to live in financial difficulty and social isolation, worsened by his difficulties with the French language.

Jeanne-Claude

Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon like her husband is known simply as Jeanne-Claude. She was born on the same day as Christo, on June 13, 1935 in Casablanca. Her 17-year old mother Precilda and her father Major Lein Denat married illegaly as Precilda was still a minor. They divorced soon after Jeanne-Claude's birth and she grew up in a dysfunctional family since her mother remarried three times after that and joined the French Resistance during World War II, meaning that she was unable to care for her daughter.

Jeanne-Claude thus lived with her father's family during that time but was treated badly. When Precilda returned after the war in 1945 to find her 10-year-old daughter, Jeanne-Claude was badly disturbed and undernourished. Precilda built her daughter back up and Jeanne-Claude would receive from her a good, strict but warm-hearted upbringing, a good education and a prosperous life. In 1946 her mother married for a fourth and final time to the influential General Jaques de Guillebin. Between 1945 and 1952 the family lived in Paris, but due to de Guillebin's work commitments they lived in Tunisia from 1952 to 1957, but in 1957 the family returned to Paris. Jeanne-Claude lived in a privileged community, went to many parties and was courted by many men. She passed her school leaving examinations with distinction, but then had no goal in life, no aims and was dependant on others.

The Couple

In October 1958, Christo was commissioned to paint a portrait of Precilda de Guillebon and he and Jeanne-Claude thus saw each other for the first time. At first, unlike her mother, Jeanne-Claude was not impressed by Christo, but her mother liked the portraits and commissioned more works from him. Soon they came to know each other better and he taught her Art History lessons while she in return taught him to improve his French. Christo continued to work on his wrappings, inspired by Jackson Pollock and Jean Tinguely. Christo became friends with Jeanne-Claude's half sister Joyce and fell in love with her. Jeanne-Claude got engaged to her friend Philippe Planchon. One month before the wedding, and after Christo and Joyce had split up, Christo and Jeanne-Claude fell in love, but her wedding with Phillipe still took place. After the honeymoon Jeanne-Claude, who was pregnant by Christo, left her husband, keeping the pregnancy secret.

In 1959 Christo became more dedicated than ever to his wrapping art, but he changed his style. He began to leave the material as it was, no longer coating it with glue and sand. In 1960 he gave up on painting altogether and finished his Inventory Series. Christo's wrapping produces excitement, similar to that felt just before unwrapping presents at Christmas. His wrappings are a "revelation through concealing" (David Bourdon). Where other artists hope for immortality, Christo emphasizes mortality through his transitory works. In the autumn, Niki de Saint Phalle und Jean Tinguely visited Christo's studio. Christo got to know more and more artists. The love between Christo and Jeanne-Claude remained secret and on May 11, 1960 their son Cyril was born. When Jeanne-Claude's parents learnt of the love-affair, they were outraged since Christo was from a lower-class background and denied the couple any further financial support, meaning that they were forced to live in poverty, which was nothing new to Christo.

In 1961, Christo covered barrels at the port of Cologne, the first large objects he had wrapped. Jeanne-Claude's parents began to reconcile with their daughter and are showed interest in their grand-child. In 1962, the couple tackled their first monumental project "Rideau de Fer" ("Iron Curtain"). They blocked off Rue Visconti, a side-street on the River Seine, with oil-barrels. They were inspired by the building of the Berlin Wall, but left the interpretation to the observer. Despite problems with the authorities, the couple began, without consent of the city, to stack the oil-barrels on top of each other on June 27. Jeanne-Claude was able to stall the approaching police and convinced them to leave the barrels there for a couple of hours. Residents and motorists were outraged and angered, but were asked how the inhabitants of Berlin must feel when there it is not just a street but a whole city that is divided.

During the Visconti Project, Christo had his first own exhibition at a gallery, where he could even sell some of his wrapped objects and became known in Paris because of the Visconti project. On November 28, 1962 Christo and Jeanne-Claude married. They were still poor, but they saved money to go to New York as the city took over the role of being an artistic centre from Paris.

The two are united in work as well, with Jeanne-Claude being Christo's partner in all undertakings. Jeanne-Claude traditionally serves as the PR agent of the two, and is considerably more outspoken than her husband. She has described their relationship as having a "good cop / bad cop" dynamic.

New shores

In February 1964, Christo and Jeanne-Claude arrived in New York. After a short return trip to Europe, the Christo's finally settled in America in September. Christo displayed his art in some famous Galleries, among them Gallery Castelli, New York and Gallery Schmela, Düsseldorf, Germany. To begin with, Christo and Jeanny-Claude had difficulty settling into their new country. There was the language barrier, they were in debt and had nowhere to live. After a long search they found a run-down house which they needed to spend two months renovating. They could not earn any money during this time, so their mountain of debts only grew larger. Christo began to wrap shop-fronts which he had built to scale. Their sale enabled the debts to be paid and larger projects to be carried out. Their next project was a 1,200 m³ package which was constructed with the help of enthusiastic students. In 1967, Jeanne-Claude's parents and Christo's father visited the couple at their house. At the beginning of 1968, they split from the Gallery Castelli in order to remain independent.

Their works

Though their artwork is visually striking and often controversial due to its size and scale, the artists have repeatedly denied that their projects contain any deeper meaning. The purpose of their art is intended to simply make the world a "more beautiful place" or offer a new way of looking at an old landscape.

Documenta 4

In 1968, Christo and Jeanne-Claude had the chance to participate at the Documenta 4 in Kassel. For this, the couple wanted to build a package with a volume of 5,600 m³, which would be lifted by cranes and visible from a distance of 25km. However, the first attempts failed from June 24, 1968 as the polyethylene skin frequently burst as it was being raised. After repeated repairs and using the two largest cranes in Europe, the project finally became a reality. The package stood for two months and cost Christo and Jeanne-Claude 70,000 US$, money which they had great difficulty raising.

Wrapped Coast

At the end of 1969 Jeanne Claude and Christo wrapped a coast in Australia with the aid of 130 helpers who invested a total of 17,000 working. 9,300 m² synthetic fabric and 56 km rope were used. After initial resistance from the authorities and the public, after the completion of the project, reactions were largely positive.

Valley Curtain

At the end of 1970 Christo and Jeanne-Claude began the preparations for their "Valley Curtain" project. A 400m long cloth was to be stretched across a valley if the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. There were some problems obtaining permission for the project due to protests by environmentalists and with financing the planned budget of around 230,000 dollars. 14,000 m² of cloth had to be hung on a steel cable, which was fastened with iron bars fixed in concrete on each slope.

200 tons of concrete had to be carried by hand in buckets up each slope. The budget increased to 400,000 dollars and the Christos had once again problems with the financing, but they finally sold enough works of art to raise the money. On October 10, 1971 the orange-coloured curtain was ready to be hung up, but the attempt failed as the curtain was torn to shreds by the wind and rock. Full of disappointment, the couple decided to manufacture a new curtain and try it again. During that time, Christo received a postcard from a Berlin architect with the request to veil the Reichstag. Christo liked the idea and started to work on it. On August 10, 1972 the second attempt at hanging the cloth succeeded, but only 28 hours later it had to be taken down because of a storm which was approaching at a speed of 100 km/h. Christo and Jeanne Claude were nevertheless content with their achievement.

Running Fence

In 1973, after 17 years without a citizenship, Christo became a United States citizen. In addition the preparations for "Running Fence" began: a veiled fence, made from steel posts and steel cables, running through the landscape and leading into the sea. The fence was to be 5.5 m high and 40 km long. For the project, agricultural workers needed to be convinced and the permission of the authorities had to be obtained, so Christo and Jeanne-Claude hired nine lawyers. At the end of of 1974 Christo marked the path of the fence with wooden stakes and on April 29, 1976 the work finally began after a long struggle against bureaucracy. 200,000 m² of nylon, 2050 steel posts and 145 km of steel cable were needed. On September 10, 1976 the work was completed. However, Christo and Jeanne Claude had to pay a 60,000 US dollar fine, because they still lacked permission for the coastal region.

Wrapped Walk Ways

In 1977, Christo and Jeanne Claude were mostly paying back loans and trying to save money. In addition, however, they continued to plan their future projects, like veiling the Reichstag, the Pont Neuf in Paris, as well as "Wrapped Walk Ways", a veiling of footpaths in a park. In November Christo met his parents, seeing his mother for the first time in 20 years.

With "Wrapped Wak Ways" Christo and Jeanne-Claude veil 4.5 km of footpaths in a park in Kansas City. Altogether it required 12,500 m² saffron-yellow coloured shiny nylon fabric. Pedestrians enjoyed the artwork for two weeks in October. The cost of this project amounted to 130,000 dollars. From 1979 to 1981 the couple were busy with some projects, many of which they were never able to realize, including the Mastaba of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, a project where oil barrels were to be stacked to a height of 150 m.

Surrounded Islands

Christo's mother died on April 27, 1982. For her birthday on June 13, Christo gave Jeanne-Claude a star in Sternbild Löwen. The Christo's planned a project based on Jeanne-Claude's idea to surround eleven islands in Miami with pink polyproylene. For this 603,850 m² of polypropylene was needed which had to be fixed down with anchors. Christo's father died during the work in 1983. The work of art was completed on May 7, 1983 with the aid of 500 helpers and could be admired for two weeks.

Pont Neuf

On March 14, 1984, Jeanne-Claude received the US-American nationality, however she retained dual nationality and kept her French passport. In August the couple received permission to veil the Pont Neuf after nine years of negotiations with the mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac and preparations for the project began. In December 1984, Jeanne-Claude's step-father, Jacques de Guillebon, died. For the veiling of the oldest bridge in Paris, 40,000 m² of sand-coloured polyamide fabric was needed. The veiling began on August 25, 1985 and was finished on September 22. In the next two weeks over three million people visited the project.

Umbrellas

In 1986 Jeanne-Claude dyed her hair red and has kept it that colour ever since. Christo and Jeanne-Claude prepared for their next project, "Umbrellas". The plan was to have yellow and blue umbrellas set up in California and Japan at the same time.

In December 1990, after much preparation, the first bases for the screens were laid. At the bases 80 cm long anchors were fastened to the ground to withstand tensions of 1,500 kg. In order to preserve the countryside, the bases were transported to the site by helicopter. The final cost of the project totalled $26 million. In September 1991 the screens were brought to their places by 1,880 workers.

On September 7, 1,340 blue screens in Ibaraki and 1,760 yellow screens in California had been set up and the exhibition opened on September 9, 1991. In total three million people came to see the screens, each measuring 6 m in height and 8.66 m in diameter. However, two people died during the construction and exhibition. A woman was killed when one of the screens hit her because of a gust of wind and a man building the screens came into contact with a high voltage power line.

The Reichstag

After the project "Umbrellas" Christo and Jeanne-Claude concerned themselves with veiling the Reichstag in Berlin. With the support of the parliamentary speaker, Rita Suessmuth, the Christos worked to convince the Members of Parliament, going from office to office, writing explanatory letters to each of the 662 delegates and innumerable telephone calls and negotiations. On February 25, 1995 after lengthy discussions the Bundestag allowed the project to go ahead.

Over 100,000 m² of fireproof polypropylene fabric, covered by an aluminum layer, and 15 km of rope were needed. Veiling began on 17 June, 1995 and was finished on 24 June. The spectacle was seen by five million vistors before the unveiling began on July 7.

Verhüllte Bäume (Wrapped Trees)

After 32 years of preparation, Christo and Jeanne-Claude veiled 178 trees in Berower Park north-east of Basel between November 13 and December 14, 1998. To wrap the trees, the couple used 55,000 m² of silver-grey shiny polyester material and 23 km of rope. A pattern had to be made for each individual tree and so the natural shape of the branches pushed the material outwards, creating individual shapes in the sky. The construction varied in height from 2 m to 25 m and in width from 1 m to nearly 15 m. As with their other projects, this was financed by the sale of original works. All materials used in this project were recycled when it was taken down.

The Gates

On January 3, 2005, work began on the installation of the couple's most protracted project, The Gates, in Central Park in New York City. They have also referred to it as "The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979–2005" in reference to the time that passed from their initial proposal until they were able to go ahead with it: only with the permission of the new mayor of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg, were they able to proceed. "The Gates" was open to the public from February 12 until February 27, 2005. A total of 7,503 gates made of saffron-yellow material were placed on paths in Central Park. They were five metres high and had a combined length of 37 km.

The cost of the project was estimated at 21 million dollars which was raised entirely by Christo and Jeanne-Claude selling studies, drawings, collages, works from the 1950s and 1960s as well as original photographs of their other works. They did not accept any sponsorship, nor did the city of New York have to provide any money for the project. Christo and Jeanne-Claude donated all the money raised from the sale of souvenirs such as post cards, t-shirts and posters to "Nurture New York's Nature Inc." To avoid vandalism, around 600 volunteers distributed 1 million 7 cm² pices of the material used for the project to visitors.

This work had a mixed reception, which is not unusual for their projects. Annie Leibowitz made a witty portrait of Christo completely wrapped and bundled, much like his own artwork.

References

• This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article from the German Wikipedia, accessed on May 3, 2005.

See also

• Land art
• Site-Specific
• The Gates

External links

• Official site
• artfacts.net entry, including exhibition information
• The Gates @ Central Park Community blogging project about Christo's February 2005 NYC art installation.