Christo
Christo, born in Bulgaria in the 1930s, was a prominent installation artist known for his large-scale environmental artworks that often involved wrapping buildings and landscapes in fabric. His artistic journey began with a focus on surrealism and abstract minimalism after he escaped communist Bulgaria and settled in Paris. In 1962, he married fellow artist Jeanne-Claude, and together they formed a creative partnership that defined his career. Christo's notable projects include the iconic "The Gates" in New York City's Central Park, the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin, and the installation of the "Floating Piers" in Italy. His works, characterized by their monumental scale and the use of everyday materials, sparked conversations about the nature of art and beauty. Despite facing challenges and some tragic incidents during his projects, Christo remained dedicated to his vision of enhancing the aesthetic experience of ordinary spaces. He continued to create significant works until his passing in 2020, leaving behind a legacy that has inspired both admiration and discussion in the art world.
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Subject Terms
Christo
- Born: June 13, 1935
- Birthplace: Gabrovo, Bulgaria
- Died: May 31, 2020
- Place of death: New York City, New York
Christo was a conceptual artist who installed large-scale “wrapped” artworks and other monumental environmental installations across the world for decades.
Growing up in Bulgaria in the 1930s and '40s, Christo was interested in William Shakespeare and theater, enrolling in the Academy of Fine Arts in 1953. After one semester, he left because of the university’s strict socialist rules. He studied at the Sofia Academy until 1956, then worked in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). In 1957, he escaped the confines of communist life, defecting to Austria. Christo took quickly to his new lifestyle, enrolling in the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts, but left for Paris, France, after one semester. In Paris, Christo found himself with no money or citizenship and supported himself by painting portraits. During this period, he developed a love of surrealism and abstract minimalism.
In 1962, Christo married fellow artist Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, forming a lifelong artistic partnership. Christo executed the projects, and Jeanne-Claude handled public relations and finance. The couple focused on what would become Christo’s signature works, the “wrapping” pieces. Although Christo began wrapping objects and buildings with various materials in 1958, the large-scale pieces he undertook in the 1970s through 1990s made him a household name.
Based on an idea he had as early as 1984, Christo erected 1,340 blue umbrellas in Ibaraki, Japan, and 1,760 yellow umbrellas in the Tejon Pass in Southern California, each measuring 6 meters in height and 8.66 meters in diameter, in 1990. The project required more than two thousand workers, cost more than $26 million to create, and was viewed by more than three million people. It became associated with tragedy, however. On October 26, 1991, an umbrella at the Southern California installation was uprooted by a gust of wind and struck a woman, killing her. As a result, Christo ordered all the umbrellas to be taken down, and a worker in Japan was electrocuted during this process.
After the umbrellas, the couple succeeded in wrapping the Reichstag in Berlin, Germany. The project, first conceived around 1972, was approved by the German parliament on February 25, 1995, with veiling beginning on June 17, and completed seven days later. The government building was covered with 100,000 square meters of fireproof polypropylene fabric, then a layer of aluminum, and finished with fifteen kilometers of rope.
Christo’s final project of the 1990s, Wrapped Trees, took place in Berower Park, Reihen, Switzerland, in November 1998. Christo wrapped 178 trees in the park with 55,000 square meters of polyester and twenty-three kilometers of rope. Unique patterns were designed for each tree, creating distinctive shapes in the sky.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude's last monumental work together was The Gates, an installation of more than 7,500 orange nylon flags first conceptualized in 1979 and placed in New York's Central Park in February 2005. Christo remained active in the art world following his wife's death in 2009. His final large-scale pieces were The Floating Piers, which consisted of 100,000 square meters of yellow fabric walkways over a poylethylene floating dock installed at Lake Iseo in Italy in 2016; The London Mastaba, a flat-topped pyramid of over 7,500 colored barrels installed on Serpentine Lake in London, England, in 2018; and another wrapping, L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped (Project for Paris), displayed in the fall of 2020 in Paris.
Christo died on May 31, 2020, in New York City, at the age of eighty-four. Several retrospectives of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work were mounted shortly after Christo's death in 2020.
Impact
The environmental installations Christo created over the decades encouraged discussions of what constitutes art. While the projects were always impressive in size, materials, labor, and expense, they evoked a simplistic calmness and serenity. Christo and Jeanne-Claude denied any meaning to the wrappings other than their inherent aesthetic value. They remained dedicated to making the world “a more beautiful place” and to developing new appreciations for familiar objects and landmarks. The couple funded all of their projects through the sales of preliminary sketches for each work.
Bibliography
Chernow, Burt. Christo and Jeanne-Claude: An Authorized Biography. St. Martin’s Press, 2000.
Chiappini, Rudy. Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Skira, 2006.
Christo and Jeanne Claude, Estate of Christo V. Javacheff , christojeanneclaude.net, 2020. Accessed 2 Nov. 2020.
Grimes, William. “Christo, Artist Who Wrapped and Festooned on an Epic Scale, Dies at 84.” The New York Times, 31 May 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/arts/christo-dead.html. Accessed 2 Nov. 2020.
Ronte, Dieter. Christo and Jeanne-Claude: International Projects. Philip Wilson, 2005.