Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Christo (born Hristo Yavashev, Bulgarian: Христо Явашев) and Jeanne-Claude (born Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon) are a married couple who create environmental installation art. Their works include the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris, the 24-mile-long curtain called Running Fence in Marin and Sonoma counties in California, and most recently The Gates in New York City's Central Park.

Although their work is visually impressive and often controversial as a result of its scale, the artists have repeatedly denied that their projects contain any deeper meaning than their immediate aesthetic. The purpose of their art, they contend, is simply to make the world a "more beautiful place" or to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes. Art critic David Bourdon has described Christo's wrappings as a "revelation through concealment."

The couple maintain a partnership in all undertakings and their art is always credited as the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. In practice, however, Jeanne-Claude is understood to serve as the public relations agent and logistical planner, while Christo has appeared to make the final creative decisions. Jeanne-Claude has described their public personae as having a "good cop/bad cop" dynamic.

Early life and works

Christo

Christo, the primary artist and designer of the duo's projects, was born 13 June 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. His father, Vladimir Javacheff, was a scientist, and his mother, Tsveta Dimitrova, was a secretary at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. Artists from the Academy who visited his family observed Christo's artistic talent while he was still of a very young age.

The story of Christo's parentage is a picaresque curiosity which illuminates the strangeness of life in mid-twentieth century Bulgaria. Christo was descended from a German immigrant to Bulgaria on his father's side. Christo's great-grandfather, the German Friedrich Fischer, had invented the modern process for mass-producing standard ball bearings and sent his son, Christo's grandfather Vitus Fischer, to Bulgaria to open the first ball bearing factory in Eastern Europe. Following the collapse of the project in disgrace--fourteen Bulgarian workers were killed in an industrial accident in the factory, and the lack of demand for ball bearings in the largely agricultural Bulgaria of the time led to financial ruin--Vitus Fischer, penniless and distrusted by the local police, took the name of Dmitri Javacheff (one of the laborers killed in the factory) and re-entered society under the assumed identity of a common, Bulgarian-born peasant working in a nearby milk production concern. Dmitri's son Vladimir Javacheff showed his grandfather's technological aptitude and became an academically successful, though still poverty-stricken, scientist in Bulgaria in the years before Christo's birth. Christo became aware of his secret German origins sometime in the 1970s, and after a brief lawsuit in the then-West German courts, he was awarded a forty-nine percent share in the inheritance of Friedrich Fischer. While this would make Christo a billionaire several times over even without his art career, he has chosen to live modestly off a portion of the proceeds from his art, reinvesting most of his occupational income and all of his inheritance from the Fischer ball bearing fortune into charitable organizations.

In his youth, Christo had an interest in theatre and staged Shakespeare plays. In 1953, he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts, but was disappointed by the strict socialist curriculum imposed by the ruling Communist Party at the time. He studied art at the Sofia Academy from 1952 to 1956, and for another year in Prague Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) until 1957, when he escaped the Communist State by hiding himself in a truck transporting medicine to Austria.

Christo quickly settled in Vienna, and enrolled at the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts. After only one semester there, he traveled to Geneva and soon after moved to Paris. As a result of his flight, he lost his citizenship and became a stateless person. His life in Paris was characterized by financial hardship and social isolation, which was worsened by his difficulty learning the French language. He earned money by painting portraits, which he likened to prostitution. Visiting the city's galleries and museums, he was inspired by the work of Joan Miro, Nicholas de Stael, Jackson Pollock, Jean Tinguely, and most notably Jean Dubuffet.

In January 1958, Christo fabricated his first piece of wrapping art: He wrapped an empty paint tin with acrylic-soaked canvas, tied it, and colored it with glue, sand, and car paint. Years later, he remarked that he did not know why he created this piece. A German entrepreneur named Dieter Rosenkranz bought several of Christo's small-scale wrappings, and through Rosenkranz, Christo met artist Yves Klein and the art historian Pierre Restany.

Jeanne-Claude

Jean-Claude was born on the same day, and in the same year, as Christo, (13 June 1935) in Casablanca, French Morocco (now Morocco). Her mother Précilda was 17 when she married Jeanne-Claude's father, Major Léon Denat. Précilda and Léon Denat divorced shortly after Jeanne-Claude was born, and Précilda remarried three times. During World War II, Jeanne-Claude lived with her father's family while her mother fought in the French Resistance. Returning after the war ended in 1945, Précilda found Jeanne-Claude emotionally disturbed and malnourished.

In 1946, Précilda married the influential General Jacques de Guillebon. The family lived in Paris from 1945 to 1952, relocating to Tunisia in 1952 and returning to Paris in 1957.

The couple

Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in October 1958, when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of her mother, Précilda de Guillebon. Initially, Christo was attracted to Jeanne-Claude's half-sister, Joyce. Jeanne-Claude was engaged to Philippe Planchon. Shortly before her wedding, Jeanne-Claude became pregnant by Christo. Although she married Planchon, Jeanne-Claude left him immediately after their honeymoon. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's son, Cyril, was born 11 May 1960. Jeanne-Claude's parents were displeased with the relationship, particularly because of Christo's humble origins, and temporarily estranged themselves from their daughter. Despite this estrangement, the couple married on 28 November 1962.

In 1959 Christo changed his approach to wrapping objects. Rather than covering the wrapping material with glue and sand, he left it unaltered. In 1960, he ceased painting altogether and completed his Inventory series.

In 1961, Christo covered barrels at the port of Cologne, the first large objects he had wrapped. In 1962, the couple tackled their first monumental project, Rideau de Fer (Iron Curtain). Without warning or consent of authorities and as a statement against the Berlin Wall, they blocked off Rue Visconti, a small street on the River Seine, with oil barrels. Jeanne-Claude stalled approaching police, convincing them to allow the piece to stand for a few hours. Although he was simultaneously holding his first exhibition at a gallery, it was the Visconti project that made Christo known in Paris.

In February 1964, Christo and Jeanne-Claude arrived in New York City. After a brief return to Europe, they settled in the United States in September of that year. Although poor and lacking fluency in the English language, Christo displayed his work in several galleries, including the well-known Castelli Gallery in New York and Gallery Schmela in Düsseldorf, Germany. Christo began to wrap storefronts which he had built to scale. Sale of the storefronts helped pay off debts and financed larger projects. Their next project, a 1,200-cubic-meter package, was constructed with the help of enthusiastic students. In early 1968, Christo and Jeanne-Claude left Gallery Castelli in order to retain their artistic autonomy.

Major works

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 (USD), which they had great difficulty raising.

Surrounded Coast

At the end of 1969 Jeanne Claude and Christo surrounded the coast of Little Bay in Sydney, Australia with the aid of 130 helpers who devoted 17,000 work hours. The project required 9,300 m² synthetic fabric and 56 km rope. After initial resistance from the authorities and the public, reactions were largely positive.

Valley Curtain

At the end of 1970 Christo and Jeanne-Claude began the preparations for the Valley Curtain project. A 400-meter long cloth was to be stretched across a valley in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The project was complicated due to protests by environmentalists, and with raising the planned budget of $230,000. The project required 14,000 square meters of cloth to be hung on steel cable, fastened with iron bars fixed in concrete on each slope, and 200 tons of concrete had to be carried by hand in buckets up each slope.

The budget increased to $400,000 causing Christo and Jeanne-Claude additional problems with the financing. Finally enough works of art were sold to raise the money and on October 10, 1971 the orange-coloured curtain was ready for hanging, but was torn to shreds by wind and rock. While a second curtain was being manufactured, Christo received a request from a Berlin architect to veil the Reichstag. On August 10, 1972 the second attempt to hang the cloth succeeded, but only 28 hours later it had to be taken down because of an approaching storm.

Running Fence

In 1973, after 17 stateless years, Christo became a United States citizen. That same year, he began preparations for "Running Fence": 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 meters high and 40 kilometers 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 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. Approximately 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 fine, because they 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 Walk Ways" Christo and Jeanne-Claude veiled 4.5 km of footpaths in Loose Park, a park in Kansas City, Missouri's Country Club District. Altogether it required 12,500 square meters of saffron-yellow coloured shiny nylon fabric. Pedestrians enjoyed the artwork for two weeks in October. The cost of this project amounted to $130,000. 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 meters.

Surrounded Islands

The Christo's planned a project based on Jeanne-Claude's idea to surround eleven islands in Miami's Biscayne Bay with 603,850 square meters of pink polypropylene. It 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 became a U.S. citizen; 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. 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

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 kgf (15 kN). In September 1991 the screens were brought to their places by 1,880 workers. In order to preserve the countryside, the bases were transported to the site by helicopter. The final cost of the project totaled $26 million.

The colors were intended to complement the landscape in which they were placed; the yellow umbrellas were chosen to accent the amber-colored grassy hills of Southern California, and the blue umbrellas were chosen to accent the lush greenery around the river in Japan, along which they were placed.

By September 7, 1,340 blue screens in Ibaraki and 1,760 yellow screens at the Tejon Ranch in southern California had been set up; the exhibition opened on September 9, 1991. In total, 3 million people saw the screens, each measuring 6 meters in height and 8.66 meters in diameter. The umbrellas became a huge tourist attraction, finding use as everything from picnic spots to wedding altars. Two people died during the construction and exhibition. A woman, Laurie Mathews, was killed when one of the screens hit her because of a wind gust, and a man, Masaaki Nakamura, was fatally electrocuted while removing umbrellas when he came into contact with a high voltage power line.

The Reichstag

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The Wrapped Reichstag

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After the project "Umbrellas" Christo and Jeanne-Claude concerned themselves with veiling the Reichstag in Berlin. With the support of the parliamentary speaker, Rita Süssmuth, 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.

More than 100,000 square meters 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 visitors before the unveiling began on July 7.

Gallery

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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 square meters of silver-grey shiny polyester material and 23 kilometers 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 to 25 meters and in width from 1 to nearly 15 meters. 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.

Wrapped Snoopy House

In 1975, Charles M. Schulz drew an episode of his comic strip Peanuts in which Snoopy's doghouse is wrapped in fabric by Christo. In response, Christo constructed a wrapped doghouse and presented it to the Charles M. Schulz Museum in 2003.

The Gates

Main article: The Gates

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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 postcards, t-shirts and posters to "Nurture New York's Nature Inc." To avoid vandalism, around 600 paid employees ("Gate-keepers") distributed 1 million 7 cm² pieces of the material used for the project to visitors. The Gate-keepers also provided information to visitors about the project, and were responsible for unrolling the gates that had rolled over their crossbars in the high wind.

Future works

Over The River

Christo and Jeanne-Claude have announced plans for a future project, entitled Over The River, to be constructed on the Arkansas River near Cañon City, Colorado in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Plans for the project call for suspending 6.7 miles of reflective, translucent fabric panels over the river on steel cables anchored into the river's banks. Project plans call for its installation for two weeks during the summer of 2011, at the earliest, and for the river to remain open to recreation during the installation.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude first conceived "Over the River" in 1985 as they were wrapping the Pont Neuf and a piece of torn fabric fluttered over the Seine. The artists began a three-year search for appropriate locations in 1992, considering some eighty-nine river locations. They chose the Arkansas River because its banks were high enough that recreational rafters could enjoy the river at the same time. Christo and Jeanne-Claude have already spent more than $2 million on environmental studies, design engineering, and wind-tunnel testing of fabrics. As in past projects, Over The River will be financed entirely by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, through the sale of Christo’s preparatory drawings and scale models.

References

• This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article from the German Wikipedia, accessed on May 3, 2005, with additional material on the Over the River project from the artists' website and news reports.

Bibliography

For information about the early work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude see:

Matthias Koddenberg, "Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Realism's Newly Unveiled Face", in: Nouveau Réalisme, Catalog edited by Susanne Neuburger, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna 2005 [ISBN 3-902490-12-8] (Publisher's edition: Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg [ISBN 3-938821-08-6])

See also

• Land art
• Site-Specific Art
• Environmental art
• The Gates

External links

• Official site
• Interview with Christo & Jeanne-Claude
• Christo and Jeanne-Claude in the Vogel Collection at the National Gallery of Art
• artfacts.net entry, including exhibition information
• The Gates @ Central Park Community blogging project about Christo's February 2005 NYC art installation.
• Wrapped Snoopy House at the Schulz Museum
• Over the River information from the artists' website
• News Article Archive for the Over the River project
• Wolfgang Volz, photographer
• The Pont Neuf Wrapped, 1985. Photos: Eric Baudelet