jeanne-claude

Christo (born Hristo Yavashev, Bulgarian: Христо Явашев) and Jeanne-Claude are an artistic couple practicing environmental, installation art. Their works include the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin, and the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris, the 24-mile-long Running Fence in Marin and Sonoma, counties in California, and The Gates, in New York City's Central Park.

Although 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, they contend, is to simply make the world a "more beautiful place" or offer a new way of looking at an old landscape. David Bourdon has called Christo's wrappings a "revelation through concealing."

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

Early life and works

Christo

Christo Javacheff is the primary artist and designer of the duo's projects. He was born June 13, 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. His father, Vladimir Javacheff, was a scientist, and his mother, Tsveta Dimitrova, a former secretary at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. Artists from the Academy who visited his family discovered Christo's artistic talent at an early age.

Christo had an interest in theatre and staged Shakespeare plays in his youth. 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 (in power since the Red Army invasion of 1944). Christo studied art in Sofia art academy from 1952-1956.

He continued studying in Prague Czechoslovakia, from Prague he escaped to Vienna. Christo hid himself in a lorry which was carrying medicine to Austria.

In 1957, Christo settled in Vienna. After a semester at the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts, he traveled to Geneva, then moved to Paris. Due to his flight he lost his citizenship, becoming stateless. To survive, in Paris, Christo earned money by portrait painting (which he likened to prostitution). Visiting the city's museums and galleries, he was inspired by the work of Joan Miro, Nicholas de Stael, Jackson Pollock, Jean Tinguely and especially 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 colored it with glue, sand and car paint. Christo later said that he didn't know why he did it.

Through the German entrepreneur Dieter Rosenkranz, who bought some of his wrappings, Christo met other artists, among them Yves Klein and the art historian Pierre Restany. His life in Paris was characterized by financial hardship and social isolation, worsened by his difficulties with the French language.

Jeanne-Claude

Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon like her husband is known simply by her first name, Jeanne-Claude. She was born on the same day as Christo, on June 13, 1935 in Casablanca, French Morocco (now Morocco). As her mother Précilda was still a minor at age 17, she and Jeanne-Claude's father, Major Léon Denat, married illegally. Divorcing soon after Jeanne-Claude's birth; her mother remarried three times. During World War II, Jeanne-Claude lived with her father's family, as Précilda was fighting with the French Resistance. Returning after the war in 1945, Précilda found Jeanne-Claude badly disturbed and undernourished.

In 1946 Précilda married the influential General Jacques de Guillebon. The family lived in Paris from 1945 to 1952, Tunisia from 1952 to 1957, and returned to Paris. Jeanne-Claude lived in a privileged community, and though she passed her final school examinations with distinction, she was aimless and dependent on others.

The couple

Christo met Jeanne-Claude in October 1958, when commissioned to paint a portrait of Precilda de Guillebon. Christo first fell in love with Jeanne-Claude's half-sister, Joyce. Jeanne-Claude meanwhile became engaged to Philippe Planchon. Before the wedding, Jeanne-Claude became pregnant by Christo. Marrying anyway. Jeanne-Claude left Planchon after the honeymoon. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's son, Cyril, was born May 11, 1960. Jeanne-Claude's parents, displeased by the relationship, particularly given Christo's humbler origins, were temporarily estranged from their daughter. The couple married on November 28, 1962.

In 1959 Christo's wrappings changed. Instead of covering the wrapping material with glue and sand, he left it as was. In 1960 he gave up on painting altogether and finished his Inventory Series. In the autumn, Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely visited his studio.

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 in a comment on the building of the Berlin Wall, they blocked off Rue Visconti, a side-street on the River Seine, with oil barrels. Jeanne-Claude stalled the approaching police and convinced them to let the project stand for a few hours. The Visconti project made Christo known in Paris and, at the same time, he had his first solo gallery exhibition.

In February 1964, Christo and Jeanne-Claude arrived in New York City. After a short return trip to Europe, they settled in the United States in September. Poor and with language difficulties, Christo did display his art in some well-respected galleries, including the Castelli Gallery in New York and Gallery Schmela, Düsseldorf, Germany. Christo began to wrap shop-fronts 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. At the beginning of 1968, they split from the Gallery Castelli in order to remain independent.

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 US, 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 totalled $26 million.

The colors were intended to compliment 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

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

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

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 volunteers distributed 1 million 7 cm² pieces of the material used for the project to visitors.

This work had a mixed reception, which is not unusual for their projects.

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 2010, 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.^[1] 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.

Christo in pop culture

In 1999, Christo received an on-screen acknowledgement of his work from the writers of "The Simpsons." During Episode AABF15 of the animated sitcom, entitled "Mom and Pop Art," Homer Simpson unwittingly became a luminary in the world of outsider art. When his fans found his sophomore works lacking, Lisa Simpson cited Christo's and Jeanne-Claude's Reichstag and Umbrellas projects in an attempt to inspire him, though she only mentioned Christo's involvement in each. This episode originally aired on the American broadcast network Fox on April 11, 1999.