Christo and Jeanne-Claude 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.” To his critics Christo replies, “I am an artist, and I have to have courage … Do you know that I don’t have any artworks that exist? They all go away when they’re finished. Only the sketches are left, giving my works an almost legendary character. I think it takes much greater courage to create things to be gone than to create things that will remain.”

The temporary large-scale environmental works (both urban and rural environments) have elements of painting, sculpture, architecture and urban planning. Once the work of art has been read for what it really is, then the process preceeding the completion is easily understood. Nobody discusses a painting before it has been painted. Our projects are discussed and argued about, pro and con, before they are realized. To understand our work one must realize what is inherent to each project However there is an important diffrence between our works of art and the usual architecture and urban planning, we are our own sponsors and we pay for our works of art with our own money, never accepting any grants nor sponsors.

Description: SIGNED “Christo and Jeanne-Claude” on the half titlepage. Paperback copy with text in German and English. The Umbrellas, Wrapped Reichstag, and the Wall all reproduced in photographs and sketches. 160 pages. Minor wear to wrappers, otherwise very good.

Bookseller Inventory # 15401

SOLD

Christo and Jeanne-Claude Gasometer, Oberhausen 1999
Christo & Jean-Claude

· Category: Sold ·