Christo and Jeanne-Claude and Christo Signed in Christo in Crayon Lithograph
About the Item
- Creator:Christo and Jeanne-Claude (Artist)
- Dimensions:Height: 42.5 in (107.95 cm)Width: 34 in (86.36 cm)Depth: 1.25 in (3.18 cm)
- Style:Organic Modern (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:1990-1999
- Date of Manufacture:1993
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Motivated solely by a mission to spread joy and celebrate beauty through their work, Christo and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2020; 1935–2009) created riveting large-scale public art installations that pushed ephemeral art to an entirely unprecedented new level. While the pair created prints, photography and a range of other types of art, they’re best known for their installations — working with a combination of textiles and industrial materials, Christo and Jeanne-Claude created colossal site-specific sculptures and other projects that frequently included wrapping monuments, walkways and even coastlines in reams of fabric in order to draw attention and encourage viewers to experience familiar objects and places in entirely new ways.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude frequently incorporated nature’s forces into their works, creating billowing fence lines, enormous inflatable free-standing structures and colorful floating walkways. Partners in life and art, the pair designed installations that often took years or even decades to realize and lasted for only days or weeks. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s preparatory works and detailed drawings and collages are today a testament to their intricate ephemeral masterpieces and legacy.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s stories, incredibly, began on the exact same day — on June 13, 1935, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff was born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, and on the very same day in Casablanca, Morocco, Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon was born. While Jeanne-Claude received a broad education and a baccalauréat in Latin and philosophy, growing up in France, Switzerland, Morocco and Tunisia, Christo studied art from the age of six years old. He went on to study painting, drawing, architecture and sculpture at the National Academy of Art in Sofia before leaving Bulgaria to escape the Hungarian Revolution.
Christo spent time in Prague before a brief stint at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, moving on then to Geneva and ultimately France. He made money by painting portraits for wealthy families. After being hired by Jeanne-Claude’s mother to paint three portraits of her, Christo met his future wife and collaborator. The pair created their first environmental installation, Dockside Packages and Stacked Oil Barrels, in 1961.
Together, Christo and Jeanne-Claude pursued increasingly ambitious projects, proposing to wrap everything from trees in Wrapped Trees, Foundation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland, 1997-98 to important public buildings including the Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971–95. They also created free-standing abstract sculptures such as the 5,600 Cubicmeter Package, billowing curtains such as Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970–72, and proposed installations in locations as far-flung as Dubai and Japan. These projects and others have been linked to the Pop art-adjacent nouveau réalisme movement.
Classically trained in drawing, Christo created preparatory sketches and collages for the projects, selling his artwork to independently fund the monumental temporary installations the pair erected. Meanwhile, Jeanne-Claude advocated for the pair’s artwork, speaking at public forums, sending proposals to municipal governments, and using her unique combination of compelling charm and stoic stubbornness to get their projects approved.
Devoted to their ideals of spreading joy and beauty, the pair accepted no commissions or commercial collaborations — all their installations were funded purely by the sale of their preparatory art. The last of their realized urban works, that 2005 project invited New Yorkers to go for a glorious walk through 7,503 saffron-fabric-draped portals along the pathways of Central Park. More than 4 million people did.
Christo’s wrapped sculptures, which he began making early in his career, as well as his preparatory works, are held in the permanent collections of museums and other institutions including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Centre Pompidou. Jeanne-Claude died in 2009, and Christo continued to realize the pair’s planned projects until his own passing in 2020.
Find original Christo and Jeanne-Claude photography, mixed media works, sculptures and prints on 1stDibs.
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- Christo and More SMS A Collection of Multiples 'William N. Copley, 1968'By Yoko Ono 1, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Roy LichtensteinLocated in Chicago, ILChristo and More SMS A Collection of Multiples 'William N. Copley, 1968' S.M.S. is an art collection in a box that was available by subscription in 1968. Through February and December, subscribers were mailed six issues containing assorted works of art curated by William N. Copley. The portfolios consist of “original reproductions" by 73 artists including William Copley, Christo, Marcel Duchamp, Roy Lichtenstein, Joseph Kosuth, Walter de Maria, Yoko Ono, Lawrence Weiner, Richard Artschwager, Man Ray, Bruce Nauman, John Cage, Terry Riley and more. S.M.S. included renowned and unknown artists side by side. As form of protest against galleries, S.M.S. made contemporary art affordable and accessible at a modest price of $125.00 per subscription. The portfolios are all kept in their original display covers. Edition of approximately 2,000 published by Letter Edged in Black Press. Volume No. 1 February 1968 Little Box of Earthquake and Cotton (cover), Irving Penn; Black Dress, James Lee Byars; Chicago Project…, Walter de Maria; My Country ‘Tis of Thee, Kasper Konig; Luggage Labels Nancy Reitkopf; Project for a Bridge, Sue Braden; A Postcard for Mother, Richard Hamilton; Two Propositions in Black, Le Monte Young and Marian Zazeela; Store Front, Christo; Sol Mednick; Pharmaceuticals, Julian Levy. Volume No. 2 April 1968 Seven Minute Recording of Contapetrie, a surrealist word game (cover), Marcel Duchamp; The Mirror of Genoveva, Meret Oppenheim; Three Color Separations, Alain Jacquet; A Two-Year-Old Girl Choked to Death Today on an Easter Egg, Ray Johnson; A Proposed Comic Section for the New York Times, Bernard Pfreim; Farwell to Faust, George Reavey; Album, Clovis Trouille; Legal Tender, Bruce Conner; 10 collages, Marcia Hertscovitz; Cynocephalus & Co., Nicolas Calas. Volume No. 3 June 1968 Untitled abstract landscapes (cover), John Battan; Clouds, William Bryant (Bill Copley); Ode to London, Dick Higgens; Two Drawings, Ronnie Landfield; Bush in Hand, Roland Penrose; The Father of Mona Lisa, Man Ray, signed and numbered; Glove, Enrico Baj; Four Titled Abstracts, Joseph Kosuth; Correspondence, H.C. Westerman; Signal Flag Poem, Hannah Weiner; Poppy Nogoods All Night Flight, Terry Riley; Poems, Atograf. Volume No. 4 August 1968 Untitled (cover), Robert Stanley; Drift Study 4:37:4:05:09:50 5 VII 68, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela; Permanent Parking Decal, Robert Watts; 100 Year Calendar, On Kawara; Lichtenstein Hat, Roy Lichtenstein; Diary: How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse) continued, John Cage; Phenakistiscope, Hollis Frampton...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
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- Christo and Jeanne-Claude Signed Photograph, France, 1970By Christo and Jeanne-ClaudeLocated in Madrid, ESSigned and framed photo by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Black lacquered wooden frame. Tittle: "Wrapped walk ways, Loose Park, Kansas, 1978" Kansas, October 2, 1978.Category
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MaterialsWood, Glass, Paper
- Christo and Jeanne-Claude Ultrachrome PrintBy Christo and Jeanne-ClaudeLocated in Nice, Cote d' AzurChristo (1935, USA) and Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009, USA), Documenta de Kassel, 1968, Ultra-chrome print, 60 x 50 cm, N°4/12, signed by Christo, Jeanne-Claude and the photographer Wolfang Volz. On the occasion of the Documenta IV in 1968, in Kassel, Germany, Christo and Jeanne...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Photography
- Christo and Jeanne-Claude Wrapped Reichstag, 1971By Christo and Jeanne-ClaudeLocated in East Hampton, NYChristo and Jeanne-Claude, American, Bulgarian and Moroccan, b. 1935-2020 and 1935-2009. Newly framed and hand-signed. Title: Wrapped Reichstag Serie...Category
Vintage 1970s French Post-Modern Prints
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- Christo Lithograph-Collage Wrapped FountainBy Christo and Jeanne-ClaudeLocated in Barcelona, BarcelonaChristo lithograph-collage Lithograph-collage (Architectural drawings by Pere Casajoana Architect) Wrapped fountain 2009 Measures: 56.0 x 71....Category
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- Christo, Texas Mastra Project for 500, 000 Stacked Oil Drums, Signed LithographBy Christo and Jeanne-ClaudeLocated in St. Louis, MOChristo (1935-2020) Bulgarian. The TEXAS MASTABA, PROJECT FOR 500,000 STACKED OIL DRUMS (S. 85), 1976, color lithograph & screenprint collage on 1/8” brown board, signed and numbered...Category
Vintage 1970s American Modern Contemporary Art
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- Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Wrapped Trees. Basel 1997–1998. Signed Book & PrintBy Wolfgang Volz, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, TASCHENLocated in Los Angeles, CAFondation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Basel, Switzerland, 1997-1998 In Autumn 1998, after the trees around Fondation Beyeler and in the Berower Park had shed their leaves, Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped 162 trees—some up to 25 meters high—with 55,000 square meters of polyester fabric and 23 kilometers of rope. The effect of light and weather on the translucent material created a kind of amorphous sculptural choreography, an ever-changing variety of shapes, surfaces, and colors. The fabric, used every winter in Japan to protect trees from frost and heavy snow, lent the trees the appearance of precious and fragile objects. The Fondation Beyeler project was a pièce de résistance for Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and an extension and expansion of many years of interest in the concept of wrapped trees...Category
Late 20th Century Books
MaterialsFabric, Paper